Dev Item Lifecycle

Every dev item moves through a lifecycle of five statuses. Each status determines what actions are available.

Status flow

graph LR
    A[Planning] --> B[Development]
    B --> C[Measuring]
    C --> D[Complete]
    A --> C
    D --> E[Archived]
    A --> E
    B --> E
    C --> E

Status details

Status	What it means	Baseline metrics	Post-release metrics	Mark as released
Planning	Defining the feature and gathering requirements	Add, edit, delete	Not available	Available
Development	Feature is being built	Add, edit, delete	Not available	Available
Measuring	Feature is live, collecting data	Add, edit, delete (dates before release)	Add, edit, delete	Already released
Complete	Measurement period is over	Not available	Add, edit, delete	Already released
Archived	No longer actively tracked	Not available	Not available	Not available

Key transitions

Planning/Development → Measuring (Mark as Released)

This is the most important transition. When you mark a dev item as released:

• Status changes to Measuring
• An actual release date is recorded
• Post-release metrics become available
• The release date becomes the dividing line between “before” and “after”

Requirements: You must provide a release date that isn’t in the future and isn’t before your earliest baseline data point.

Measuring → Complete

Move to Complete when you’ve collected enough post-release data to draw conclusions. You can still add post-release metrics after completing — this just signals that the active measurement period is over.

Any → Archived

Archiving freezes the dev item. No further changes are allowed. Use this when you’re done with a dev item and want to keep your active list clean.

Caution

Archiving is a one-way transition. Once archived, a dev item cannot be moved back to an active status.

What you can do in each status

Action	Planning	Development	Measuring	Complete	Archived
Edit dev item fields	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Add baseline metrics	Yes	Yes	Yes (pre-release dates)	No	No
Add post-release metrics	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Mark as released	Yes	Yes	—	—	No
Change status	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
View results	—	—	Yes	Yes	Yes