Quick Start

Launch

Open

launch Visual Backlog

Use the Visual Backlog link in the project navigation to launch it.

Navigate

Pan

Using the mouse:

• Click on the background pane and drag to pan

• Scroll to pan up and down

• Scroll+ Shift to pan left and right

• Scroll + Alt/Option to pan up and down

Using the trackpad:

• Click on the background pane and drag to pan

• Use your two fingers to pan

Drag

Click and hold on and issue/project node then drag it to move it around.

Zoom

Mouse

Hold down Control and scroll up / down to zoom in/out

Trackpad

Hold down Control and scroll up / down using you too fingers

Focus

Open

Alt/Option + click to focus/zoom out

Hold Alt/Option and click on a board, project or issue to focus on it.

Hold down Alt/Option and click on a the background pane to zoom out.

Load / Filter data

Load

Use the source dropwdown to select the source data of Visual Backlog, you can choose from a list of:

1. Project: fetches the current project’s issues in addition to their external dependencies/dependents (if External issues option is selected in the project filter).

2. Board: uses the corresponding board’s JQL filter to fetch issues and their external dependencies/dependents (if External issues option is selected in the project filter).

Filter

Use the data filters on the top of Visual Backlog to filter the issues/projects you would like to work on.

Search

Use the Search bar to locate issue, projects, boards and prioritisation tracks on the graph. Use the esc keyboard key to zoom out of the selected node.

Plan

Link / Unlink Issues

To link issues, click on the source port (right port in a Horizontal layout) of one issue, drag and drop it on a target port of another issue. This create a draft edge that you can use to select the type of relationship between them.

To unlink issues, click on the x button on the right of label of the link type.

View/Edit Issues

Double clicking an issue node opens the native issue dialog, thanks you can take a closer look at the issue details. You can also use the same dialog for editing it.

Create issues

Issues can be created using:

1. The create child issue button on the epic node tool bar. This will create a child issue of the given epic.

2. The create issue button on the project node tool bar.

3. The create issue button on the left of the search bar.

Prioritise

Prioritisation tracks

1. Use the issue link dropdown to filter out issue links that do not correspond to a dependency relationship e.g. duplicates or clones and keep only those that do e.g. blocks

2. Enable the prioritisation tracks option located in the Layout Configuration panel on the right of Visual Backlog’s screen.

Voilà! Visual Backlog groups the issues on the board into prioritisation tracks that are numbered and ordered by the ascending order of priority.

Blockers

1. Use the issue link dropdown to filter out issue links that do not correspond to a dependency relationship e.g. duplicates or clones and keep only those that do e.g. blocks.

2. optional enable the prioritisation tracks.

3. Enable the blockers option located in the Layout Configuration panel on the right of Visual Backlog’s screen.

There you go! blockers are highlighted while non blockers are faded. A bottleneck is a not-done issue that is also a dependency of another issue located on a forward prioritisation tracks.

Thanks to the prioritisation tracks and the blockers options, prioritising work becomes easier. when both options are enabled, non faded issues on the left most track are the issues that must be prioritised first before moving to the next track and so on.

Compact mode

This option comes handy when working on a large graph of issues. It shortens the distance between the issues to fit more of them on the screen. This helps understand the dependencies at a quick glance without the need to zoom/pan.

Please note that you cant edit the issue link labels when compact mode is enabled.

And More…

Checkout our comprehensive guide to learn more.