Sample Project to explore for a newb

[Morten Dremark-Larsen]

Hi Community,

I am completely new to Jira and is looking for a complete kanban sample project to explore and see how things can be done.

I have spent hours searching communities etc. for this and have repeatedly been stepping on the threshold:

All videos, tutorials etc. that show how to generate this seems to have some years on the clock.

Is it possible to get hold of a sample project when I am using Jira Software Cloud today (2021)

In advance I thank you!!

[Dirk Ronsmans · Accepted solution]

Hi @Morten Dremark-Larsen and welcome to the community,

It seems the "sample project" is only available on Server/DC and not on Cloud.

What you can do is create a new blank project and then create a new board. On the board creation screen you can choose to create one with sample data

[Morten Dremark-Larsen]

Hi @Dirk Ronsmans

Thank you for your reply. Led on by your answer I kept digging. It turns out, that one can not get the sample data in a board, if the project is created as a NextGen-project. Little detail - big difference :-)

Thank you for your assistance. 

[Dirk Ronsmans]

Ah yes, small detail with large impact.

Next Gen (currently being rebranded to Team Managed) projects are a whole different animal.

[Scott Germaise]

It looks like you can still get sample data in Cloud, but it's kind of convoluted. As of April, 2021, using what's apparently the latest version of things, here's how I did it successfully for both Scrum and Kanban boards. (Note: This is a weird place this feature is buried and it seems like an afterthought; so it probably could disappear any time.)

* Create a New project. (Select Kanban or Scrum)

* It asks about using a Template. Select Use Template.

* Choose the "Company Managed" option. (This is important. If you choose "Team Managed" you won't get the sample data options coming up. It almost seems like they left in the Sample Data option by accident during an upgrade. Or, for whatever reasons, haven't added it to the Team Managed Option. Whatever. Choose Company Managed.

* Enter the project name and code. You'll end up with a new project.

* NOW you should be able to select, (from the left menu), either Backlog or Active Sprints and the 3 dot menu (...) should be on the top right.

* From the top right 3 dot menu, select Create Board.

* You should get a window and it lets you create a board, (scrum or kanban), with sample data. This will - perhaps oddly - create not only a board, but a whole new project. So it's a really odd place to have this functionality. Feels like an accident. But... it did allow me to get Sample Data.

Some have said just make your own test data or import some. But, like many, I find it really useful to be able to populate a test project with a bunch of sample data to try to learn new things or test some Jira configurations. It took a bit to find where this was buried. We'll see how long it lasts.

[Dong Liang]

Thank you! It still works as of June 2021

[John Funk]

Hi Morten - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

I am not sure if there are any sample projects that come with the initial setup or not. If you go to Projects - View all projects, do you see any? 

Otherwise, I would just suggest you create a new project and play with it. You can delete it if you don't like it or it doesn't work for you. 

[Morten Dremark-Larsen]

Hi @John Funk

Thank you for your reply. As commented on the other reply, I found a way around and located the sample data. 

In my opinion: To get something useful out of playing around with such a complex thing as Jira from empty scratch requires one of two prerequisites: 1) You have been exposed to similar products in operation. 2) You have an almost indefinite amount of time to spend "randomly" clicking around in the program.

When I teach new engineers how some of our complex machinery works, I start off by showing them the machinery in operation. We "kick some tires" and get a feeling for this iteration of the final product. Afterwards we start diving into the devilish details, but always with reference to their newly acquired "vision" of how a finished product can look (not defined as should).

This renders them useful to the organisation much much faster and they are much faster in feeling comfortable about expressing their now own opinion on how the next machine iteration can be improved. 

So that is why I was looking for a complete running sample project. Not as the one truth in the world, but a take on how things can be done - and then I can build from there :-)

Have a great day! I am off to play with the sample project :D