Work Item Types
Not all work is the same. Different types need different handling.
1Why Types Matter
Treating all work the same leads to problems:
- A one-line bug fix gets the same process as a major feature
- Urgent production issues wait behind planned work
- Technical debt competes unfairly with customer features
Work item types solve this by acknowledging that different work has different:
- Urgency
- Size expectations
- Process requirements
- Priority rules
Common types in software teams:
- Features: New customer-facing functionality
- Bugs: Defects in existing functionality
- Technical Debt: Internal improvements (refactoring, upgrades)
- Spikes: Research or proof-of-concept work
- Support: Customer questions or issues
2Visualizing Types
Make types visible on your board so anyone can see the work mix at a glance.
Options:
- Card color: Blue for features, red for bugs, yellow for tech debt
- Icons/tags: Visual indicators on each card
- Card shape: Different card templates per type
- Swimlanes: Separate rows per type (more on this later)
The key insight: Visualization isn't just for you—it's for stakeholders. A board full of red bug cards tells a story. A swimlane of tech debt that never moves tells another.
Different types may also have different policies:
- Bugs might skip the backlog and go straight to Ready
- Spikes might have a time limit ("max 2 days")
- Support might have a dedicated WIP allocation
Track your work type mix over time. If you're never doing tech debt, you're accumulating problems. If bugs dominate, you have a quality issue upstream.
3The Right Level of Granularity
Too few types = everything looks the same, losing useful distinction. Too many types = cognitive overload, inconsistent usage.
Start simple: Feature, Bug, Other. Add types when you have a real need:
- "We need to track spikes separately" → add Spike type
- "Support work keeps getting lost" → add Support type
- "We can't see how much maintenance we're doing" → add Maintenance type
Signs you have too many types:
- People argue about which type to use
- Types overlap (is this a bug or a feature?)
- Some types have zero items for months
- The board is a rainbow that's hard to parse
Signs you have too few types:
- Important work gets lost in the noise
- You can't answer basic questions about work mix
- Different work with different needs gets identical treatment
- Different work types have different needs and urgency
- Make types visible through color, icons, or structure
- Start simple—add types when you have specific needs
- Track your work mix over time to spot patterns
- •Over-engineering with too many types before you need them
- •Inconsistent type usage (everyone picks differently)
- •Using types for priority instead of classes of service