How do I recycle old work boards?

Question

Someone copied a bunch of stuff from my counterpart in another location to get me started but those are his projects not mine. How do I recycle that stuff so I can focus on my team's projects?

Answer 1

Hello Liebman, Sarah,

Steps to Recycle the Old Work Boards in Azure DevOps:

1. Create a New Board for Your Team:
   • Go to Boards > New Project and create a project specifically for your team. You can configure the boards, work items, and workflows to match your team's needs.
2. Move Work Items (if needed):
   • If the copied work items are still relevant but belong to your counterpart's projects, you can move them to a different project or reassign them.
   • In Azure DevOps, you can bulk edit work items and move them between teams or projects:
   • Go to Boards > Work Items.
   • Select the work items you want to move.
   • Choose Bulk Edit and select Move to another project.
3. Delete or Archive Irrelevant Items:
   • If the work items are completely unrelated to your team's focus, you can delete them.
   • To delete a work item, open the work item and click Delete from the top-right corner.
   • You can also archive a whole board or project if you want to keep the data for reference but no longer need it active. Use Project Settings > Archive Project to do this.
4. Adjust Board Views and Filters:
   • To keep your board focused on your team's work, configure the board’s Column Options and Card Styles.
   • Use Queries to filter out irrelevant tasks from the main board. Set up a query that only includes the work items assigned to your team.
5. Clean up Permissions:
   • If other teams have access to your board, you can restrict permissions by going to Project Settings > Permissions and adjusting access controls to keep things team specific.

Documentation:

• Move work items between projects in Azure DevOps
• Managing Permissions in Azure DevOps

I hope the above helps. Let me know if you need more help with any of these steps. Thank you!