Editing conflicts

What a conflict is

Every item, sprint, project and Scrum Event note carries a version number. When you save, the product sends the version you loaded. If somebody saved the same record after you loaded it, the two versions no longer match. The product then refuses your save, so it cannot replace their work. That refusal is a conflict.

A conflict is not a fault. The other person keeps their change. Most screens keep your change on the screen, so you save it again against the new version.

Each screen reports a conflict in its own words. The sections below take each screen in turn.

A conflict on a backlog item

The item panel shows a dialog with the item id in front of the title: PROJ-127 was changed by someone else. The dialog lists the fields you sent, in two columns: Theirs and Mine. Each field in the panel saves on its own, so the list normally holds one row.

1. Read each row. The product selects the other person's value first.
2. To keep your own value for a field, select the Mine column.
3. Click Save my choices.

The product writes the fields you kept on top of the other person's version.

To accept the other person's version for every field, click Take theirs. The product writes nothing more, and the panel shows the item as the other person left it.

A conflict on project settings

A setting has one value, so there is nothing to choose. The grid takes the other person's settings and shows yours on top of them. It says: Somebody else changed this project while you were editing. Their changes are shown, with yours applied on top — check the row you just changed.

The grid ignores a row you set to the value it already shows. To put your value into the project, reload the page first.

1. Reload the page.
2. Set the row again.

See Project settings.

Screens that reload

These controls send the version the page loaded. The product refuses the save and reloads the screen with the newest version. A box you typed in keeps your text. Make the change again.

• The project name, description and Product Goal, the Product Owner control, Move and Delete project: This project changed since the page loaded. It has been reloaded — try again.
• The Sprint Goal editor on a sprint card: This record was modified by someone else. The planning screen reloads, and the card then shows what the other person wrote.
• A card you move on the board: Somebody else changed this item. Reloading the board. The reload returns the card to its first column.

Screens that only report

These controls report the conflict and do nothing else. The screen keeps the version it holds, so the same click fails again. Reload the page. Then do the work again.

• The sprint action buttons on the planning screen: This record was modified by someone else. See Sprints.
• A card you move on the backlog screen: the same message, and the old order stays on the screen. See The Product Backlog.

Notes in a Scrum Event

Your notes in a session belong to you alone, so a colleague can never conflict with them. The one conflict is with yourself, when you have the same session open in two tabs. The screen says: You have this session open somewhere else, and it has newer notes.

The screen keeps your draft in the box and takes the newer version. It does not show you the newer text. If you save again, your draft replaces the text from the other tab. See Scrum Events.

Work with no version

Some work carries no version at all, and the product never refuses it as a conflict.

• Cards on the Sprint Review board and the Retrospective board. Each card has one author, and the whole team writes at the same time.
• The Definition of Done boxes on an item. Two people can tick different lines, and a line ticked twice stays ticked.
• The Waiting on list on an item.
• Plan into… and To backlog on the planning screen. Both act on the sprint as the server holds it.

How to see fewer conflicts

• Open an item, change what you need, and close the panel. A panel left open for an hour is the usual cause.
• Agree who edits the Sprint Goal and the Product Goal. Each is one field on one record.
• Do not keep the same session open in two tabs. One tab is enough for your notes.