OW-02
Done Issue Without Assignee
Ownership
Default severity: medium
ProcessOutputQualityRisk
What it detects
An issue was closed/resolved without an assignee ever being set — it was completed but there is no record of who did the work. This makes retrospective analysis impossible, prevents recognition and accountability, and often indicates bulk-closed or automated closures that should be investigated (see MI-01, MI-04).
Detection formula
IF issue.status IN config.workflow.done_statuses AND issue.assignee IS NULL AND COUNT(changelog WHERE field=\'assignee\') = 0 // never had any assignee THEN FLAG done_without_owner IF issue.story_points > 0 THEN CRITICAL — SP claimed with no owner Correlate with OI-01 (operational issue), MI-01 (bulk closure), SA-01 (sprint-free completion) Report: issue, resolution_date, time_spent (if any), story_pointsExamples in practice
- A team shows an issue was closed/resolved without an assignee ever being set while done statuses is set to Configured per workspace.
- Example signal: An issue was closed/resolved without an assignee ever being set — it was completed but there is no record of who did the work.
Suggested response
Clarify ownership at handoffs and ensure active and done items have an accountable assignee.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
An issue was closed/resolved without an assignee ever being set — it was completed but there is no record of who did the work. This makes retrospective analysis impossible, prevents recognition and accountability, and often indicates bulk-closed or automated closures that should be investigated (see MI-01, MI-04).
Why it matters
When "Done Issue Without Assignee" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Clarify ownership at handoffs and ensure active and done items have an accountable assignee.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Done Issue Without Assignee" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.