MI-10

Parent Closed With Open Children

Metric Integrity

Default severity: medium
MetricsQualityRisk

What it detects

A parent issue was closed while more than the configured percentage of its children are still in active or not-started statuses. open_children = COUNT(child_issues WHERE status NOT IN config.workflow.terminal_statuses)

Detection formula

IF issue.status IN config.workflow.done_statuses AND open_children / total_children > config.mi.max_open_children_pct // default: 0% THEN FLAG IF open_children / total_children > config.mi.critical_open_children_pct // default: 30% THEN CRITICAL

Examples in practice

  • Parent Done, child subtasks still In Progress
  • Bulk admin transitions or resolution anomalies distort cycle time and velocity metrics.
  • Closure timestamps or fields suggest data repair rather than organic delivery.

Suggested response

Audit closure and field patterns so metrics reflect real completion, not bulk admin updates.

Coaching playbook

Symptom

A parent issue (Epic, Feature, Story, or sub-task parent) is in a Done or terminal status while at least one linked child remains open — still active, not started, or not in a terminal status. This is a strong subtask-laundering signal: the parent looks finished on the board, but delivery work continues underneath.

Why it matters

When parents close before children, completion metrics, burn-down, and epic health overstate progress. Stakeholders see a green parent while real work is hidden in open children — forecasts slip and retrospectives miss the true WIP.

What you can achieve

Hierarchy that tells the truth: parents stay open until children are terminal, or children are closed with an explicit reason — so every Done parent means the subtree is actually finished.

Facilitation questions

  • Which open children still block real completion of this parent?
  • What made closing the parent feel necessary while children were still active?
  • What gate or board policy would prevent Done parents with open children next sprint?

Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.

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MI-10: Parent Closed With Open Children — FlowAnalyzer