@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.8.2 — 2026-10-18
+
+Fewer false alarms in sprints and checks.
+
+- `ado_sprint`: no "fits, N h spare" when most open tasks have no Remaining Work - it says how many have it instead;
+  the attention count says how many are items and how many their tasks.
+- "no acceptance criteria" only for types that have the field (a process that keeps criteria in the description is not
+  flagged, in `ado_sprint` and `ado_trace` alike); "no estimate" and "no acceptance criteria" only for items not
+  started or in the first state of the work, not for items in test or waiting for production.
+- `ado_create` / `ado_update`: for a type without a criteria field the criteria are part of the description, so the
+  length hint allows twice as many words and no "no acceptance criteria given" note.
+
 ## 0.8.1 — 2026-10-18
 
 Fixes from testing on a real project.
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     <AssemblyTitle>ADO Lens for Azure DevOps</AssemblyTitle>
     <Description>Azure DevOps (work items, boards, wiki, Git and TFVC, pipelines) served to AI assistants over MCP</Description>
     <Copyright>Copyright © 2026 WillowDev</Copyright>
-    <Version>0.8.1</Version>
+    <Version>0.8.2</Version>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
 
@@ -210,6 +210,23 @@ static string Category(Snapshot s, JsonElement wi)
         _ => "InProgress",
     };
 
+    static bool HasField(Snapshot s, string type, string reference) =>
+        s.FieldsOf(type) is { Count: > 0 } f ? f.Any(x => x.Ref == reference) : s.Fields.ContainsKey(reference);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Not started, or in the first in-progress state of its type. Later (in test, waiting for production) a missing
+    /// estimate or criteria is no longer worth a flag.
+    /// </summary>
+    static bool Early(Snapshot s, JsonElement wi)
+    {
+        var category = Category(s, wi);
+        if (category == "Proposed") return true;
+        if (category != "InProgress") return false;
+        var type = s.FindType(WorkItems.Field(wi, "System.WorkItemType") ?? "");
+        var first = type?.States.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Category == "InProgress")?.Name;
+        return first is null || first.Equals(WorkItems.Field(wi, "System.State"), StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+    }
+
     static string Group(string category) => category switch
     {
         "Proposed" => "not started",
@@ -287,17 +304,28 @@ public static async Task<string> SprintAsync(Lens lens, string? connection, stri
         }
         sb.AppendLine();
 
-        var remaining = items.Where(w => Group(Category(s, w)) is not ("done" or "removed")).Sum(w => Number(w, RemainingRef) ?? 0);
+        var open = items.Where(w => Group(Category(s, w)) is not ("done" or "removed")).ToList();
+        var remaining = open.Sum(w => Number(w, RemainingRef) ?? 0);
+        // Remaining Work is kept on tasks; when most open tasks have none, a "fits" would only be a guess.
+        var openTasks = open.Where(w => Level(s, w) == Levels.Task).ToList();
+        var kept = openTasks.Count(w => Number(w, RemainingRef) is not null);
         if (it.Finish is { } end && day <= end && s.Fields.ContainsKey(RemainingRef))
         {
-            var cap = await TryAsync(() => boards.CapacityLeftAsync(name, t, it, it.Start is { } st && st > day ? st : day, working, ct));
-            sb.AppendLine(cap is { } c
-                ? $"remaining work {Num(remaining)} h, capacity left {Num(c.Hours)} h ({c.People} people) - " +
-                  (remaining <= c.Hours ? $"fits, {Num(c.Hours - remaining)} h spare" : $"OVER by {Num(remaining - c.Hours)} h")
-                : $"remaining work {Num(remaining)} h; no capacity set for the team");
+            if (openTasks.Count > 0 && kept * 2 < openTasks.Count)
+                sb.AppendLine($"remaining work is filled on only {kept} of {openTasks.Count} open tasks ({Num(remaining)} h) - too little to compare with capacity");
+            else
+            {
+                var cap = await TryAsync(() => boards.CapacityLeftAsync(name, t, it, it.Start is { } st && st > day ? st : day, working, ct));
+                sb.AppendLine(cap is { } c
+                    ? $"remaining work {Num(remaining)} h, capacity left {Num(c.Hours)} h ({c.People} people) - " +
+                      (remaining <= c.Hours ? $"fits, {Num(c.Hours - remaining)} h spare" : $"OVER by {Num(remaining - c.Hours)} h")
+                    : $"remaining work {Num(remaining)} h; no capacity set for the team");
+            }
         }
 
         var attention = new List<string>();
+        var attentionTop = 0;
+        var topIds = live.Select(WorkItems.Id).ToHashSet();
         foreach (var w in live.Concat(children.Values.SelectMany(x => x)).Where(w => Group(Category(s, w)) is not ("done" or "removed")))
         {
             var why = new List<string>();
@@ -306,15 +334,23 @@ public static async Task<string> SprintAsync(Lens lens, string? connection, stri
                 why.Add($"no change for {(day - ch.ToLocalTime().Date).Days} days");
             if ((WorkItems.Field(w, "System.Tags") ?? "").Split(';').Any(x => x.Trim().Equals("blocked", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
                 || WorkItems.Field(w, BlockedRef) is "Yes") why.Add("blocked");
-            if (level == Levels.Requirement && estimate is not null && Number(w, estimate) is null) why.Add("no estimate");
-            if (level == Levels.Requirement && fields.Contains(WorkItems.AcceptanceRef) && Html.ToMarkdown(WorkItems.Field(w, WorkItems.AcceptanceRef)).Length == 0)
-                why.Add("no acceptance criteria");
+            var typeName = WorkItems.Field(w, "System.WorkItemType") ?? "";
+            if (level == Levels.Requirement && Early(s, w))
+            {
+                if (estimate is not null && HasField(s, typeName, estimate) && Number(w, estimate) is null) why.Add("no estimate");
+                if (fields.Contains(WorkItems.AcceptanceRef) && HasField(s, typeName, WorkItems.AcceptanceRef)
+                    && Html.ToMarkdown(WorkItems.Field(w, WorkItems.AcceptanceRef)).Length == 0)
+                    why.Add("no acceptance criteria");
+            }
             if (WorkItems.Field(w, "System.AssignedTo") is null) why.Add("unassigned");
-            if (why.Count > 0) attention.Add($"- {WorkItemFormat.Header(w)}{Who(w)}: {string.Join("; ", why)}");
+            if (why.Count == 0) continue;
+            attention.Add($"- {WorkItemFormat.Header(w)}{Who(w)}: {string.Join("; ", why)}");
+            if (topIds.Contains(WorkItems.Id(w))) attentionTop++;
         }
         if (attention.Count > 0)
         {
-            sb.AppendLine($"attention ({attention.Count}):");
+            var taskCount = attention.Count - attentionTop;
+            sb.AppendLine(taskCount > 0 ? $"attention ({attention.Count}: {attentionTop} items, {taskCount} of their tasks):" : $"attention ({attention.Count}):");
             foreach (var a in attention.Take(detail == "full" ? 200 : 15)) sb.AppendLine(a);
             if (attention.Count > 15 && detail != "full") sb.AppendLine($"- … {attention.Count - 15} more (detail=full)");
         }
 
@@ -85,8 +85,12 @@ string Category(JsonElement x) =>
         {
             sb.AppendLine("acceptance criteria: none in their field" + (description.Length > 0 ? "; description:" : ""));
             if (description.Length > 0) sb.AppendLine(description.Length > 1500 && !full ? description[..1500] + "…" : description);
-            signals.Add(description.Length > 0 ? "no acceptance criteria: the check can only go by the description"
-                : "no acceptance criteria and no description: nothing to check the code against (look at the parent item)");
+            // A process without the criteria field keeps them in the description: nothing to flag then.
+            var criteriaField = s.FindType(WorkItems.Field(wi, "System.WorkItemType") ?? "") is not { } wt
+                                || s.FieldsOf(wt.Name) is not { Count: > 0 } wf || wf.Any(f => f.Ref == WorkItems.AcceptanceRef);
+            if (description.Length == 0 || criteriaField)
+                signals.Add(description.Length > 0 ? "no acceptance criteria: the check can only go by the description"
+                    : "no acceptance criteria and no description: nothing to check the code against (look at the parent item)");
         }
         var criteriaChanges = (await work.UpdatesAsync(project, id, ct))
             .Where(u => Json.Obj(Json.Obj(u, "fields"), WorkItems.AcceptanceRef).ValueKind == JsonValueKind.Object)
 
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ public async Task<List<object>> BuildOpsAsync(Snapshot s, TypeInfo type, WriteRe
         if (r.Parent is { } parent)
             ops.Add(new { op = "add", path = "/relations/-", value = new { rel = "System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Reverse", url = $"{WebBase}_apis/wit/workItems/{parent}" } });
 
-        Lengths(type, r, notes);
+        Lengths(type, r, notes, Has(s, type, AcceptanceRef));
         return ops;
     }
 
@@ -334,15 +334,17 @@ internal static string MergeTags(string? current, string change)
     }
 
     /// <summary>Soft limits of the writing rules: informative notes, the write still happens.</summary>
-    static void Lengths(TypeInfo type, WriteRequest r, List<string> notes)
+    static void Lengths(TypeInfo type, WriteRequest r, List<string> notes, bool criteriaField)
     {
         var limit = type.Level switch { Levels.Requirement => 120, Levels.Bug => 100, Levels.Task => 40, Levels.Portfolio => 150, _ => 0 };
-        var words = Html.Words(r.Description);
+        // Without a criteria field the criteria are part of the description, so it may be longer.
+        if (!criteriaField) limit *= 2;
+        var words = Html.Words(r.Description) + (criteriaField ? 0 : Html.Words(r.AcceptanceCriteria));
         if (limit > 0 && words > limit)
             notes.Add($"description has {words} words; {type.Level} items usually need ≤ {limit} - what to do, not how");
         var criteria = (r.AcceptanceCriteria ?? "").Split('\n').Count(l => l.TrimStart() is var t && (t.StartsWith("- ") || t.StartsWith("* ") || (t.Length > 2 && char.IsDigit(t[0]) && t.Contains(". "))));
         if (criteria > 7) notes.Add($"{criteria} acceptance criteria; more than 7 usually means the item should be split");
-        if (type.Level == Levels.Requirement && r.Description is not null && r.AcceptanceCriteria is null && words > 0)
+        if (criteriaField && type.Level == Levels.Requirement && r.Description is not null && r.AcceptanceCriteria is null && words > 0)
             notes.Add("no acceptance criteria given");
     }
 
 
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ public BoardTests()
                   {"rel":"System.LinkTypes.Hierarchy-Forward","source":{"id":1},"target":{"id":2}},
                   {"rel":null,"source":null,"target":{"id":4}}]}
                 """)
+            .On(team + "teamsettings/iterations/s3/workitems", """{"workItemRelations":[]}""")
             .On(team + "teamsettings/iterations/s2/capacities", """
                 {"teamMembers":[
                   {"teamMember":{"displayName":"Anna Nowak"},"activities":[{"capacityPerDay":6,"name":"Development"}],"daysOff":[]},
@@ -102,6 +103,18 @@ public async Task Sprint_shows_progress_capacity_and_what_needs_attention()
         Assert.DoesNotContain("not started (1):\n  #2", text);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task Sprint_says_so_when_none_is_current_and_capacity_is_not_compared_without_remaining_work()
+    {
+        var after = await BoardQueries.SprintAsync(lens, null, null, null, null, null, new DateTime(2026, 11, 20));
+        Assert.StartsWith("NO CURRENT SPRINT for the team today - this is the last one that ended:", after);
+
+        ((JsonObject)items.Items[2]["fields"]!).Remove("Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.RemainingWork");
+        var text = (await BoardQueries.SprintAsync(lens, null, null, null, null, null, Today)).Replace("\r", "");
+        Assert.Contains("remaining work is filled on only 0 of 1 open tasks (0 h) - too little to compare with capacity", text);
+        Assert.DoesNotContain("spare", text);
+    }
+
     [Theory]
     [InlineData("next", "Sprint 3")]
     [InlineData("previous", "Sprint 1")]