Our team is having a debate about the proper way to handle completed issues in JIRA. Some of us think we should use the ‘resolve’ status while others prefer ‘close’. I know both can be reopened if needed but I’m not sure about the real differences between them.
Does anyone have experience with this? What are the pros and cons of each approach? I’m looking for some solid advice to help us decide on a standard practice for our workflow.
I’ve heard that different permissions might be needed for resolving vs closing but I’m not certain. Are there any other important factors we should consider when making this choice? Any input would be really helpful as we try to improve our project management process.
In my experience working with JIRA across multiple teams, the ‘Resolve’ status is generally the better practice for most workflows. Resolving an issue indicates the work is complete but allows for a validation step before fully closing. This gives stakeholders a chance to verify the resolution before permanent closure. It is especially useful for QA processes or client approvals. Closing directly can sometimes lead to issues being prematurely marked as finished without proper review. Resolved issues still appear in some default filters and reports, while closed ones do not, making tracking easier. Ultimately, the choice depends on your workflow needs, but I recommend starting with ‘Resolve’ and reassessing after a few sprints.
In my organization, we’ve standardized on using ‘Resolve’ rather than ‘Close’ for completed issues. The main advantage is that it allows for a final review phase before permanent closure. This has proven invaluable for catching last-minute issues or ensuring all acceptance criteria are truly met.
Another key benefit of ‘Resolve’ is that it keeps issues visible in many default JIRA reports and dashboards. This helps with sprint retrospectives and overall project tracking. We found that immediately closing issues sometimes led to work falling through the cracks.
That said, your specific workflow might benefit from a different approach. I’d recommend trying ‘Resolve’ for a few sprints and then evaluating if it meets your team’s needs. Remember, JIRA is highly customizable, so you can always adjust your workflow later if needed.
we use ‘resolve’ at my company. it gives time for QA to check stuff before closing. also keeps issues visible in reports which is handy. but really depends on ur team’s process. maybe try both for a couple sprints and see what works best? jira’s pretty flexible so u can always tweak things later