Enable Read Only access to ADO Boards Functionality

Considering this:

1. Use Security Groups for Permissions – Azure DevOps allows you to assign users to different security groups. The Readers group provides read-only access to Boards, while Contributors have write access. You can assign users to the Readers group for the specific projects where write access should be restricted.
2. Modify Project-Level Permissions – Within Project Settings > Permissions, you can explicitly deny write access to Boards-related features while ensuring other functionalities remain untouched. This includes disabling permissions for work item edits, board modifications, and dashboard updates.
3. Stakeholder Access Level – Applied if users only need to view work items but not modify them, Stakeholder access might be an option. However, this limits their ability to interact with other features.
4. Custom Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – If fine-grained control is needed, you can create custom security roles that allow read-only access to Boards while maintaining full access to repositories and pipelines.
5. Reversibility – To easily revert permissions, document the changes made and use Azure DevOps Auditing to track modifications. This ensures that previous settings can be restored if needed.

Default permissions and access for Azure Boards - Azure Boards | Microsoft Learn