MI-14
Story Closed With Open Subtasks
Metric Integrity
Default severity: medium
MetricsQualityRisk
What it detects
Description is not yet published for this rule in the PRD catalogue.
Detection formula
No published identification formula is available yet for this rule.Examples in practice
- Bulk admin transitions or resolution anomalies distort cycle time and velocity metrics.
- Closure timestamps or fields suggest data repair rather than organic delivery.
- A team shows description is not yet published for this rule in the prd catalogue during analysis.
Suggested response
Audit closure and field patterns so metrics reflect real completion, not bulk admin updates.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
A Story (or configured story type) is in Done or a terminal status while at least one linked sub-task remains open — still In Progress, not started, or not terminal. This is the classic subtask-laundering pattern at story level: the story card looks complete, but checklist work continues underneath.
Why it matters
Done stories with open sub-tasks inflate sprint completion and hide unfinished verification. Velocity and sprint goals look met while work continues in sub-tasks that stakeholders rarely track.
What you can achieve
Story completion that means the whole card is finished — sub-tasks closed or explicitly split to a follow-up story with clear ownership.
Facilitation questions
- Which open sub-tasks still carry real work for this story?
- Why was the story closed before every sub-task reached a terminal status?
- Should our Definition of Done require all sub-tasks terminal before the story moves to Done?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.