Stack rank changed automatically for many work-items in Azure Devops

Question

The stack rank of many work items changed automatically in Azure Devops. In all these work-items' history, it shows I changed the stack rank. Any idea why stack rank changed automatically for so many tasks without even touching them and got logged under my name??

Answer 1

The sequence of items on each backlog is determined according to where you've added the items or moved the items on the page. As you drag items within the backlog list, a background process updates the Stack Rank. This is by designed behavior.

You can click "Configure settings" button(gear icon) on "Board". -> Select "Card reordering". The default option is "Work items reorder when changing columns, and the backlog reflects the new order." -> Change the setting to "Work items follow the backlog order when changing columns.". -> Click "Save and Close".

Then drag the workitem(eg: user story), the stack rank won't be changed.

Please refer to the links below for the details:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/backlogs/backlogs-overview?view=azure-devops#backlog-priority-or-stack-rank-order

VSTS - Backlog Priority altered by sorting in columns