JIRA - Project

Jira - Understanding Projects

In Jira, a Project is a container for issues. It represents a collection of tasks, bugs, features, or any work items that your team is working on. A Jira project can be configured to support various methodologies and types of work, such as:

Agile software development (Scrum or Kanban)
Traditional waterfall software development
Marketing campaigns
IT support and help desk tracking
HR processes like leave requests or employee onboarding
General task management or process improvement initiatives

Creating a New Project

To create a new project in Jira (typically requires Jira Administrator or specific project creation permissions):

Navigate to ‘Projects’ in the main Jira navigation bar and select ‘Create project’.
Alternatively, some Jira configurations allow project creation via a global ‘Create’ button or a specific admin section.

Jira will then guide you through selecting a project template. Templates come pre-configured with recommended issue types, workflows, screens, and board configurations tailored to specific use cases.

Modern Jira offers a variety of templates, including:

Scrum: For teams practicing Scrum, with sprints, backlogs, and story points.
Kanban: For teams visualizing flow and limiting work-in-progress.
Bug tracking: Optimized for logging, tracking, and resolving bugs.
Basic software development: A simpler starting point for development projects.
Process management / Task tracking: Generic templates for managing various types of tasks and processes.
Project management: More comprehensive templates for larger projects.

You might also encounter a choice between Team-managed (simpler, self-contained configuration managed by project admins) and Company-managed (more powerful, shares configurations across projects, managed by Jira admins) project types, especially in Jira Cloud. For most established organizations, Company-managed (or ‘Classic’ in older terminology) projects are common.

After selecting a template, Jira will often show you a summary of what the template includes (e.g., issue types like Epic, Story, Task, Bug; and a basic workflow like To Do -> In Progress -> Done). Click ‘Use template’ or ‘Select’ to proceed.

Next, you’ll need to provide essential project details:

Project Name: A descriptive name for your project (e.g., ‘Website Redesign Q4’).
Project Key: A short, unique identifier (usually 3-4 uppercase letters, e.g., ‘WRQ’). This key will prefix all issue IDs for this project (e.g., WRQ-1, WRQ-2). Choose this carefully as it’s difficult to change later.
Project Lead: The person responsible for the project (optional in some setups).

After filling in the details, click ‘Create’ or ‘Submit’. Your new project will be created, and you’ll typically be taken to its main view, which could be a board (for Agile projects), an issue list, or a summary page.

Initially, your new project will not contain any issues. You can then start creating issues, configuring the project board, and inviting team members.

Practical Application

Choosing the right project type and template is crucial:

Agile Teams: Scrum or Kanban templates provide boards, backlogs, and reporting features essential for agile development.
Support Teams: A Jira Service Management project (often starting from a service desk template) offers queues, SLAs, and customer portal features.
General Task Management: Simpler templates can be used for tracking departmental tasks or non-software projects effectively.

Each project in Jira can have its own set of issue types, workflows, custom fields, permissions, and notifications, allowing for highly tailored environments for different teams and objectives.