We use GitHub labels to quickly identify tickets on the kanban board. (See GitHub repository, below.) This allows us to quickly scan the board and visually see the current status of tickets. Labels can also be used on Pull Requests to know the status. Some common labels are:
- Draft
- Blocked
- Points 1-13
Almost every ticket has a label to help the team quickly understand the current status of the ticket. A freshly opened ticket is labeled “draft” while the Acceptance Criteria (AC) are written and agreed upon. The Product Manager assigns the Product Owner to review and approve the AC by removing the “draft” label and adding the “approve” label. When the Product Owner approves the AC, they replace the “approve” label with a “SCORE” label. This lets the producer know that the ticket is ready to be scored during the next planning poker session.
“Blocked” is a frequently used label. If someone has a question or can’t move forward, they will leave a ticket comment clearly stating the question or need, add the “block” label, and assign the ticket to the person they need an answer from.