The Pool Dashboard is where teams will find many yet-to-be-assigned tickets. These unassigned tickets can then be assigned to team members in a first-in-first-out manner. So, the ticket that has been in the queue for the longest time gets assigned first.
The manager or admin can straightaway assign pending tickets from the pool, and this process is independent of automated rotational assignments.
Why is Pool needed?
For example, let's consider a team with 2 members (A and B), each having an Individual Maxcount of 5. Currently, both have 5 open tickets in their personal buckets. Consequently, all new incoming tickets will be stored in the pool until one of them resolves/closes some of their tickets. Now, suppose there is a high-priority ticket coming in. This functionality allows the admin to use their discretion and assign the 6th ticket to either A or B as they see fit. This manual assignment will take precedence over the usual first-in-first-out approach for ticket assignments.
State of pool
When a ticket is in the "Open" state, it means that the scheduling condition has been met but there are not enough resources to address the issue or if the ticket has been waiting in the buffer for more than 15 minutes.
Transitioning to the "Buffering" state occurs when tickets meet the scheduling condition but do not satisfy advanced JQL rotation conditions. The issue will stay in this state for 15 minutes, with its status being checked every minute for ticket updates. If any changes occur and conditions are satisfied, the ticket will be assigned; otherwise, after 15 minutes, it moves into the pool.
To learn more about buffer zone Buffer Zone