Can't delete sprints in Jira Cloud even with correct permissions

Summary

In Jira Cloud, users may find they can’t manage or delete sprints—even with the Manage Sprint and Browse Project permissions.

Cause

When a sprint is deleted, Jira tries to update the Sprint field on each work item to remove the sprint name. If work items belonging to the sprint aren’t editable, the sprint can’t be deleted.

This often happens when work items in the sprint are in a Closed status and the workflow for that status includes a workflow property like jira.issue.editable.group, which restricts editing to a specific group.

Solution

To resolve the error and allow for sprint deletion, we need to check the user's permissions and the workflows for work items included in the sprint.

Confirm user permissions

1. Navigate to the Space and select Space settings

2. Select Work items > Permissions

3. Scroll to the Edit work items permission

4. Confirm that the permission has been granted to your user (or to whichever user cannot delete the sprint)

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for all Spaces that contain work items in the affected sprint

Check for Workflow properties

1. Navigate to the Space and select Space settings

2. Select Workflows

3. Choose a workflow and select Edit workflow

4. Select a workflow status label, and select the + icon next to Properties

   • If any workflow properties are set to restrict editing, you can either Remove the properties, Modify to include additional groups or space roles in the restriction, or Add affected users to the existing groups or space roles in the property

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for all affected workflow statuses based on work items in the affected sprint

6. Repeat steps 1-5 for all Spaces that contain work items in the affected sprint