Use this page for the daily queue sweep, or when a backlog of "In Review" and "Blocked" tickets has grown so large that nobody trusts the board. The goal is a queue where every open ticket has an owner, a next step and a reason to exist.
Tooling for reading and updating Jira is in connecting Jira. The automated version of this page is in the automation blueprint.
Classify every new ticket
Give each ticket exactly one label so it lands in the right workflow.
| Label | Typical ticket | Page |
|---|---|---|
| access | "Grant read access to the reporting database" | access requests |
| deploy | "Release version X to production" | change control |
| pipeline | "Move repo to the new CI system" | pipeline migration |
| monitor | "Alert is noisy" | alert hygiene |
| security | "Rotate key", "fix public bucket" | security remediation |
| cleanup | "Decommission unused stack" | decommissioning |
| investigation | "Why did X happen?" | AWS read-only investigation |
| human | Unclear, political, or needs a decision | a person |
- Missing information: ask one specific question in a comment, move to "Waiting for requester".
- Duplicate: link and close as duplicate.
- Not ours: reassign to the owning queue with a one-line reason.
Close out the review pile with evidence
For each ticket in "In Review" or "Done pending verification":
flowchart TD
A[Ticket in review] --> B{Acceptance criteria met?}
B -- yes --> C{Evidence linked? MR, screenshot, command output}
C -- yes --> D[Close with summary comment]
C -- no --> E[Gather evidence read-only, then close]
B -- no --> F{Still wanted?}
F -- yes --> G[Bounce to In Progress with what's missing]
F -- no --> H[Close as won't do, with reason]
Closeout comment template:
Closing: <one line of what was done>.
Evidence: <MR link> / <pipeline link> / <verification command and result summary>.
Verified in: <env> on <YYYY-MM-DD>.
Follow-ups: <PROJ-123 or "none">.
Unstick the blocked pile
- Each blocked ticket names its blocker: a person, a ticket, or a decision.
- Blocked on a person for more than 10 business days: escalate once, in writing, with the specific ask.
- Blocked on approval: batch similar approvals into one request so the approver decides once.
- Blocked forever: close as won't do and say so. A ticket that never moves is noise.
Useful queue queries
assignee = currentUser() AND statusCategory != Done ORDER BY updated ASC
project = PROJ AND status = "In Review" AND updated <= -14d ORDER BY updated ASC
project = PROJ AND status = Blocked ORDER BY created ASC
project = PROJ AND created >= -1d ORDER BY created DESC
project = PROJ AND duedate < now() AND statusCategory != Done
Bulk work safely
- Draft every comment and transition first, in a file, and have a human review the batch.
- Post in batches of 20 or fewer and spot-check the first few.
- Never bulk-close without a per-ticket reason.
Pitfalls
- Closing on "probably done". Evidence or it stays open.
- Writing secrets, account IDs or customer data in ticket comments. Reference by name.
- Letting an agent post comments directly. Comments go out under a human's name; a human approves them. See human-in-the-loop approvals.