Every team has its own way of working, so we designed Atono workflows to be customizable for each team while still capturing metrics that let you compare performance across your organization.

What's a workflow?

In Atono, a workflow is the structured path that backlog items—stories and bugs—move through from start to finish once they're assigned to a team. A workflow consists of a series of steps that teams move their items through, which are organized by a team admin into specific categories that determine how cycle time metrics are calculated.

Workflow steps

A workflow can include between four and 25 steps that backlog items move through, from when they're ready for the team to start working on them until completion. For example, in the default Atono workflow, there are seven steps (including one for items that won't be done):

• To do
• Design
• Development
• Test
• Review
• Done
• Won't do

Teams can customize the steps in their workflow, including their order and number, color, and applicability to stories and bugs. While workflows generally move linearly from 'To do' to 'Done,' it's common for items to move back and forth or skip steps based on circumstances and team processes.

Workflow categories

Behind the scenes, all workflow steps are organized into four categories, which makes it possible to compare customized workflows across different teams. The categories are as follows:

1. To do
2. In progress
3. Done
4. Won't do

The 'In progress' category is unique because the time items spend in steps within this category is totaled for an item's cycle time.

In the default workflow, the steps Design, Development, Test, and Review fall under the 'In progress' category, so any time spent in these steps contributes to the total cycle time. Measuring cycle time helps teams track progress, forecast releases, and meet standards for resolving issues within agreed timeframes.

How categories impact cycle time

When customizing a workflow, it's helpful to understand how changing the category of a step affects cycle time tracking. The 'In progress' category is tied directly to cycle time metrics, meaning any time an item spends in an 'In progress' step counts toward its cycle time.

Moving steps between categories

If a step is recategorized from 'Done' to 'In progress,' any time an item spends in that step after the category change counts toward its cycle time. Time spent in the step before the change (when it was in the 'Done' category) remains unaffected, preserving historical cycle time data.

Changing an item's step

When items exit a step, the time spent is recorded based on the step's category at that moment. If a step is 'In progress' when an item leaves, that time contributes to the cycle time. If it's in 'Done' or 'Won't do.' that time doesn't count toward cycle time.

Example scenario

Consider a story that spends one day in a step called 'Review,' which is initially in the 'Done' category. Later, the team admin moves 'Review' to the 'In progress' category, and the story spends another six hours there. Only the final six hours count toward cycle time because they occurred after 'Review' was recategorized.

Customize a workflow

If your team would like to follow a different workflow than the default provided by Atono, you can modify it for your specific team. This includes changing step names, colors, order, adding or removing steps, and specifying whether each step applies to stories and bugs.

You can make these changes without worrying about data loss or interruptions to your team's work—Atono keeps your workflow history intact, so there's no need for complex migrations.

1. At the top of a team's backlog (in list or board view), click the gear icon.
2. From the menu, select Customize workflow.

Rename a step

Renaming steps can make workflows more intuitive for your team by aligning step names with familiar terms.

1. In the Customize workflow dialog, hover over the name of the step you want to modify.
2. Click the pencil icon to edit the step name.
3. Modify the name and click outside the field to save changes.

Change the step color

Color-coding visually differentiates steps, making it easier to see where items are in the workflow at a glance.

1. Hover over the colored circle beside the step name.
2. Click the pencil icon, select a color, then click outside the popup to save.

Reorder steps

Reordering steps allows teams to adjust the sequence of work based on changing priorities or processes. You can move a step to a different position or even to a different category.

1. Hover over a step and when drag handles appear, click and drag the step to the desired location.
2. Release the step to place it in its new position.

You can't remove the last step from a category or add steps to categories like 'To do' and 'Won't do,' which only support one step. Each category requires at least one step for stories or bugs, so you may need to create another applicable step before moving the last one in a category.

Create a step

Adding steps lets your team break down work into finer stages, improving tracking and clarity. You can have up to 25 steps in a workflow.

1. Click the Add step (plus) icon for a workflow category.
   • The new step is added to the bottom of the workflow category.
2. Enter a unique name for the new step.

Delete a step

Remove steps that are no longer relevant to simplify the workflow to match your current process.

1. Click the ellipses (...) icon for the step.
2. From the menu, select Delete step.
3. In the Delete step from workflow dialog, choose where to move any items currently in that step.
4. Click Delete step to confirm.

Change if the step applies to stories or bugs

Control which steps are relevant for stories, bugs, or both, to help teams organize work without unnecessary steps for each item type.

1. Click the stories (book) or bug (bug) icon next to a step.
2. To remove the step from stories or bugs in the workflow, select Remove from bugs or Remove from stories.
3. In the Remove workflow step from item dialog, choose where to move the items to.
4. Click Remove step.

If you remove a step from the workflow for stories or bugs, you'll be prompted to reassign any items in that step to a different step.

Default workflow

The default workflow in Atono consists of four categories and seven steps in a specific order, with predefined colours, and applies to both stories and bugs. When you restore a team's workflow to default, changes like renaming steps, altering colors, or repositioning are reverted.

If you created new steps or customized the existing ones by changing which category they're in, you'll be asked to select which default step to assign any stories or bugs to in the default workflow.

Restore the default workflow for a team

If your team's customized workflow no longer meets its needs, you can reset it back to the default setup, instantly reverting any changes to step names, colors, order, and categories. This helps teams align and compare across the organization while ensuring data continuity.

1. In the Customize workflow dialog, click the ellipses (...) icon.
2. Select Restore default workflow.
3. If your workflow contained any custom steps, select which default step to assign stories and bugs.
4. Click Restore default workflow.

Assigning stories or bugs to a default step in a different category than the custom step may impact cycle time calculations.