Planning › How to Work with an Impediment › Close an Impediment

Close an Impediment

You can close an impediment if the impeding issue is resolved and it is no longer a challenge to complete the task. For example, the team member can close the impediment, since a new resource is assigned to do the required testing.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Sprint Tracking, click Sprint Backlog & Charts.
2. Hover over the Impediment icon, and click the Task Details link from the tooltip.

   The Task Details page appears.

3. Navigate to the Impediments section, and select Closed in the Status field for the impediment.
4. Save your changes.

Note: If you are using Kanban, click Agile, and from Kanban Tracking, click Kanban Backlog & Charts page to close the impediment.

The following changes are visible for the task:

• The impediment is deleted and disappears from the Impediments list on the Task Details page.
• The message flag closes on the Task Details page.
• The icon disappears from the task list on the User Story Details page.
• The icon disappears from the Virtual Wall task card.
• The icon disappears from the task list on the Sprint Backlog & Charts page.
• The icon disappears from the kanban board story card.
• The icon disappears from the task list on the Kanban Backlog & Charts page.

You have successfully used an impediment to communicate a problem impacting the completion of a task.

How to Enable Ranking of Backlog Items

Ranking backlog items in the order in which you want the work completed helps to plan the backlog items for a release. The values in the Rank # column in the backlog list indicate the order of work.

For example, rank the user story “Pay Parking Pass by Credit Card” higher than the user story “Pay Parking Pass by PayPal”.

Review this information before ranking backlog items:

• The ranking column will disappear when you sort items.
• The enable Ranking button is hidden if the Rank # column is visible.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Planning, click Backlog.
2. Select the product name from the Product drop-down list.
3. Click Enable Ranking, if you do not see the Rank # column.
4. Click the Rank # field for the user story or issue, and enter the new rank number.

   The backlog item is moved to the new place in the list.

Note: You can also rank backlog items by dragging and dropping them in the required order.