Finding duplicate cards

On a busy job the same piece of work often lands on the board twice. Two people add a card on the same morning, an action from a site meeting gets written up again a week later, or the same question comes back in slightly different words. Nobody does anything wrong, but the board slowly fills with pairs of cards about one job, and work gets done twice or not at all.

Wyroo can help with this in two places: while you are writing a new card, and afterwards across the whole board.

A heads-up while you are writing

When you type a title for a new card, Wyroo quietly looks at the cards already on that project. If one of them looks like the same work, you get a short notice under the title:

There may already be a card about this

Meerwerk extra scheidingswand High certainty

Both cards are about pricing the extra partition wall in the hall.

You then have two choices: Open existing card, to go and read what is already there, or Create new card anyway, if it really is different work.

This is only ever a warning. Wyroo never stops you making a card, and if you carry on it stops asking about that title.

On the board and in the backlog, where a card is made with a single press of Enter, the notice appears once instead. Press Enter again, or choose Create new card anyway, and the card is made.

Checking the whole board

To tidy up what is already there, open a project board and choose Check for duplicate cards.

Wyroo reads the cards on the board and shows the pairs that look like the same work. Reading a board takes a moment, so you can leave the panel open while it works.

For each pair you see both cards, a short explanation of why Wyroo thinks they overlap, and how certain it is.

Reading what Wyroo found

Each result looks something like this:

High certainty

WYR-42 Aanpassing sprinkler koof WYR-58 Extra sprinkler boven maatwerkkoof

Both cards are about adding sprinkler protection in the same custom bulkhead. The location and the party involved match as well.

Two things are worth knowing about that.

The explanation is the part to read. It names what the two cards actually share, so you can judge in a second whether Wyroo has it right.

The certainty is shown as high or medium, not as a percentage. A number like “91% match” would suggest Wyroo measured an exact overlap, and it did not. It read both cards and formed an opinion, the way a colleague would.

Wyroo is not always right, and it is only advising. You decide what happens next.

Merging two cards

Choose Merge cards on a pair and Wyroo walks you through it.

Choose which card to keep

First you say which of the two cards stays. That card keeps its own card number, which matters because numbers get quoted in meeting reports, PDFs and messages. The other card is folded into it.

Check the proposed title and description

Wyroo then proposes a title and a combined description for the merged card. It only rearranges what is already written on the two cards: it will not add facts, decisions or deadlines of its own, and where the two cards disagree it keeps both statements rather than picking one.

Both fields are yours to edit before anything happens. Nothing is saved until you press Merge.

What happens when you merge

Everything from the second card moves onto the card you kept:

comments, put back in order by date and time so the thread reads properly
files and attachments
subtasks
meeting points
linked notes and to-dos
the card history

Nothing is thrown away. If the card you kept had no one assigned, it takes the other card’s person. If both had a deadline, the earlier one wins.

The merged-away card leaves the board, so your columns actually get tidier. It is not deleted: open its old number and it tells you which card it was merged into, with a link straight there.

Undoing a merge

Right after a merge you get an Undo button. Use it and both cards come back exactly as they were, including the column and position the second card was sitting in.

This is on purpose. Wyroo only advises, so a wrong suggestion should never cost you anything.

When the cards really are different

If a pair is not a duplicate, choose Not a duplicate. Wyroo remembers that decision and stops proposing those two cards together.

It comes back only if one of the cards changes in a real way later, for example if someone rewrites the description. Moving a card to another column or giving it to someone else does not bring it back, because neither changes what the card is about.

What Wyroo will not do

It never merges or deletes a card on its own. Every change is one you confirm.
It never invents content. Titles and descriptions are built from what is already on the two cards.
It never blocks you. Every warning can be waved through.