What is the right approach to move incomplete sub tasks to next sprint
Asked by Smitha Joseph:

Which is the right approach to move incomplete sub-tasks to the next sprint?

++**Approach 1**:++ Should I split the story into two parts (comprising the incomplete work), move the second part to the next sprint, and adjust the estimates of the original and split stories?

++**Approach 2**:++ I have one parent story with, say, 6 sub-tasks. The estimates are at the sub-task level and add up to the total estimate of the parent story, keeping the estimate of the parent story at 0. The parent issue remains open until all sub-tasks are complete. If, in the current sprint, I complete only 4 sub-tasks, I move the remaining 2 incomplete sub-tasks to future sprints along with their estimates.


Answers:
author: Trudy Claspill
body: Hello [@Smitha Joseph](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5524135)

Subtask cannot be assigned to a sprint independently. Subtasks inherit their sprint association from their parent issue.

Generally in scrum the idea is to commit to completion of the entire parent issue. If it is too large to complete in a single sprint then during the planning phase you split into smaller separate smaller issues, each of which can be further reference need with subtasks.

If the entire issue is not completed in the sprint then the issue and all it's subtask (even the complete ones) carry over to the next sprint.

comments: author: Smitha Joseph
body: [@Trudy Claspill](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3569011) : So, would you recommend the first approach, where I split the story into 2 or 3 parts (comprising the incomplete work), move the incomplete parts to the next sprints, adjust the estimates of the original and split stories, and close the completed part of the original story (part 1)?


author: Trudy Claspill
body: No, I would not.

I recommend that you instead take this as an opportunity to examine why all the work was not completed in the sprint. This is a learning opportunity to make your estimation, planning and sprint commitment more accurate in the future, or address the issues that prevented you from completing all the work to which you committed.

Move the entire story and it's subtasks to the next sprint. The lack of "partial credit" in the current sprint accurately reflects that you did not complete the committed work.


author: Smitha Joseph
body: **[@Trudy Claspill](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3569011)**The story was too complex and couldn't be completed in a sprint. Would you recommend identifying such complexities during the sprint planning, dividing the story into smaller, manageable parts, and moving only the portions you believe can be completed within the sprint to the sprint backlog?


author: Trudy Claspill
body: Theoretically you are also doing backlog grooming which is when you estimate the work effort for your stories. During grooming you should be identifying the larger and more complex stories and splitting them into smaller stories that could be completed within a sprint.

During sprint planning you should commit only to as much work as you think you can complete. If you have capacity remaining in your sprint but all the available stories are too large you could split one into smaller stories. Or you could remove smaller stories currently in the sprint so that you can have the team work on the larger story instead.

During your sprint retrospective you can discuss why the story couldn't be completed, and methods to address that in the future. Was your effort estimate accurate, but you overcommitted to how much you could complete? If your estimate was not accurate, what was missed? Is there a way to make sure the missed elements are considered in future estimations? Did your work capacity change in this sprint in an unexpected way? Did other unplanned work get added to the sprint? Any of those might impact your completion of work.


author: Smitha Joseph
body: [@Trudy Claspill](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3569011) The story was too complex and couldn't be completed in a sprint. Would you recommend identifying such complexities during sprint planning, dividing the story into smaller, manageable parts, and moving only the portions you believe can be completed within the sprint to the sprint backlog?


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