Looking for Best Practices to Improve Jira Project Organization in 2026

[carl]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to improve the way our team organizes projects and issues in Jira as we head into 2026. We’ve been using Jira for a while, but our workflows and boards have become a bit cluttered, and it’s getting harder to maintain consistency across teams.

What are some best practices or tips you recommend for keeping projects structured, workflows clean, and boards easy for everyone to follow? Any suggestions for configuration, automation, or team habits would be greatly appreciated!

[John Funk]

Hi Carl,

Use generic names for Workflow statuses. Put multiple statuses in a single column if you have several columns - but it is best to limit the number of columns you have. If you have too many, your process is too complicated. 

Implement WIP Limits on columns and discourage users from working on more than 2 cards/work items/issues at one time.