Copy Function Adds work into an Iteration which I don't always want

[Denise Fraser]

When I can, I like to copy a User Story as a shortcut to creating a similar User Story.  If my original US is tied to an iteration, that field is also copied resulting in it appearing that I am moving work into an iteration which I don't always want and skews my metrics.  Can you suggest an alternative to avoid this besides a copy/paste exercise?

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Denise Fraser
The Hartford, Agile Center of Enablement
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[Sagi Gabay]

Hi Denise,

If you use the actual Copy of a user story then you'll need to make certain to clean the fields you don't need, for example Iteration as you just said.

Another thing you can do is create a Work Item Template (see that link). A template will pre-populate your story or other work items with the fields you need, so you don't run the risk of having to remember to clean the Iteration field, simply don't add it to the template. You can pick up some story and use that to create a template, adding only the fields you need. You can default this template to the team that needs it. New stories will then come up with fields prepopulated based on your template. 

Please let us know if that helped.

Thanks,
Sagi

[Neil Goodwin]

I submitted feedback to Product Mgmt asking them not to include the Iteration field when copying stories.  In an actual use case, what are the odds that you want the new copied story, in the same iteration?  Most folks I am guessing copy stories to move the copy to a different iteration.  

We have a custom app that shows red if a team moves a story out of an iteration in the middle of it.  They are not a fan of this copy feature!  Even if they move it immediately, they get dinged.

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Neil Goodwin
Clarity & Rally Service Owner
Sabre
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[Matt Seitz]

I can't say which use case is most common.  But personally, I've wanted copied User Stories in the same iteration.  I often have similar or related user stories in a single iteration, so I copy a User Story and then modify it.  

But I have no idea how typical my personal use case is.

[Andrew McGrath]

When I'm working with lookback data in custom apps, I typically filter out any snapshots under a certain time threshold (e.g. 10 minutes) to account for this exact scenario of copying a story and then quickly updating it's timebox.