Show bugs on backlogs and boards
Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019
As your team identifies code defects or bugs, they can add them to the backlog and track them similar to tracking requirements. You can schedule bugs to be fixed within a sprint along with other tasks.
When you track bugs as requirements, they appear on the product Backlogs and boards. When you track bugs as tasks, the bugs appear on Sprint Backlogs and Taskboards. For more information about other work item types, see Add other work item types to backlogs or boards.
You can define your team's tracking setting for the Agile, Scrum, and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) processes. The Bug work item type isn't defined for the Basic process, so there isn't a team setting for Basic. Instead, you should track bugs and code defects using the Issue work item type.
Note
Requirements specify expectations of users for a software product. In Azure Boards, requirements are defined by work items that appear on your product backlog. Based on the process selected for your project, requirements correspond to User Story (Agile), Product backlog item (Scrum), Issue (Basic), or Requirement (CMMI) work item types. They also belong to the Requirements category, which manages the work item types that appear on the product backlog.
Prerequisites
Permissions: Be the Team Administrator or a member of the Project Administrators group.
Choose from options for bug tracking
The following table summarizes the options teams have for tracking bugs. Before you make your choice, we recommend you review the information provided in Define, capture, triage, and manage bugs, which provides an overview of the Bug work item type and supported tools for managing bugs.
Option
Choose when you want to...
Track bugs as Requirements
- Prioritize, or stack rank, bugs along with requirements
- Estimate Bug effort for forecasting
- Update bug status on board
- Include Bugs in Velocity charts and Cumulative Flow Diagrams
- Be able to use the Forecast tool to support sprint planning
- Drag bugs to the Planning pane to assign bugs to a sprint
- View Bugs on Delivery Plans
Note
- Bugs are assigned to the Requirements Category
Track bugs as Tasks
- Estimate work for bugs similar to tasks
- Update bug status on sprint Taskboards
- Link bugs to requirements as child items
- Drag bugs to the Planning pane to assign bugs to a sprint
Note
- Bugs are assigned to the Task Category
- User Stories (Agile), Product Backlog Items (Scrum), or Requirements (CMMI) are the natural parent work item type for Bugs
- Bugs aren't visible on Delivery Plans
Bugs don't appear on backlogs or boards
- Manage bugs using queries
Note
- Bugs are associated with the Bugs Category and don't appear on either backlogs or boards
- Bugs aren't visible on Backlogs, Boards, Sprint Backlogs, Taskboards, or Delivery Plans
- You can't drag bugs to the Planning pane to assign bugs to a sprint
Set your team preference for bug tracking
You can change settings from a backlog or board view, or from Project settings > Team configuration.
The following steps show how to change it from the board view.
Sign in to your organization (
https://dev.azure.com/{yourorganization}) and select your project.Open your board. If you're not a team administrator, get added as one. Only team and project administrators can customize the board.
Choose Board settings
to configure the board and set general team settings.
Choose Working with bugs and then choose the option that best meets your team's way of working.
When you're done with your changes, choose Save.
To see the changes, open or refresh the team's backlog or board.
Nest items
When you manage bugs with requirements or tasks, they appear on one or more of your Agile tool backlogs and boards. However, if you nest items, by creating parent-child links of items that belong in either the Requirements or Task categories, not all items can appear on your backlogs and boards. To learn more about how nested items are treated, see Troubleshoot reordering and nesting issues.
Tip
If, after refreshing a backlog or board, you don't see bugs where you expect to see them, review Troubleshoot reordering and nesting issues. Only leaf nodes of nested items appear on the or task boards.
Add other work item types to your backlogs or boards
Bugs are a common item that teams want to track, and choose how they track them. For more information, see Manage bugs.
However, what if you want to track other work item types on your backlogs and boards?
You can add other work item types by customizing your process or project, based on the process model that you use. These items include change requests, issues, and impediments.
- For the Inheritance process model, see Customize your backlogs or boards.
- For Hosted XML and On-premises XML process models, see Add a work item type to a backlog and board.
For an overview of process models, see Customize your work tracking experience.
Create, list, and manage bugs
Bugs that are managed with requirements can be added through the product backlog or board. When bugs are managed along with tasks, you can add them to a sprint backlog or task board. Or, capture them using other tools. For more information, see Define, triage, and manage bugs.
Tip
Effort should automatically be part of a bug. If you don't see it, customize the bug work item type for it to appear.
You can review bugs defined for your project by creating a query and specifying the Work Item Type=Bug. Or, open a predefined query: Active Bugs (Agile and CMMI) or Work in Progress (Scrum).