To use 2 Jira projects or just one.

[San CD]

Hi! 

I have two teams working on a project with the same goal. They normally work quite independently, one is working on code and integration, and the other is working more on the architecture of servers and so on.

So we decided to create 2 projects, one for team A and one for team B. We then had an item created on Project B that has to be completed by somebody on team A, which was fine because Jira allows stories from other projects to be seen by the assignee through filters and be part of the sprint of a different project. 

We wanted to have 2 projects to avoid the team members getting confussed or looking at stories that are not addressed to them. 

Now the team members are asking if it wouldn´t be better just to have a single project to "have better continuous project visibility". 

The PO/Scrum Master for both projects/teams are the same people. 

What would be the best practice here? 

Also, I have seem the batch capabilities of Jira are very good, so my assumption is that in case we decide to close one of the projects, all the items could be moved automatically without legwork, but please confirm. 

This is my first question here, I hope it was well phrased... 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

This is actually what boards are for.  A board represents a team's work, and is a view of a selection of issues.  The usual default is that a board looks at "Project = ABC".

But Company-managed projects can have boards that select from different places.

For you scenario, what I would do is have the two projects to separate things out and reduce the volume of irrelevant stuff to each team, and then set up two boards.

Each board should be based on a filter of "Project = X OR <something that tells us that other project needs our attention>".  I've used that quite a lot with "Project = X or label = for-team-x".

Your scrum-master and PO could then work with a third (Kanban, to keep it simple) to see the overview of both.

[Jason Chayer]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist- this is why I suggested one project. You could still have different boards, but you do not have to navigate between projects. The volume would not be there if you had different boards. Or, even if you used one board, just collapse the swim lane to block out the other teams noise.

And, as you mentioned, the Scrum-Master and PO could create a board as well in that one project and see the overview of both.

I just like the idea of not having to navigate through many projects if I do not have to. But, sometimes that is just what you have to do.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

But if you only have one project, you have the problem that your teams will be working from boards and projects that have stuff on them that they do not need to care about.

And to make the boards work as they should (i.e. be the team), then you are going to have to add data to loads of issues to distinguish which team they are for.  You'll need that to do both quick-filters or swimlanes.  It's far easier and cleaner to use two team projects and then something that can include the other team when needed.

Thing is projects are quite staid and most people prefer to work from boards (especially Scrum teams, because you can make a board show the current sprint for that team)

But, yes, one project might let you see everything in one place, it's quite constraining and needs extra data.  It's a coin-toss for me, it depends on which one is more important to all of you.  Maybe you've only really got one team here?

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_]

Hi @San CD and welcome to the Community!

Generally speaking: If they work in the same way and often together, they could do it in one project. That comes with downsides to Reporting, Prioritizing and potentially permissions and such. It's easy to combine two projects into one Sprint Board - that works fairly seemless. Splitting one projects into two if things change is much harder.

Questions that could help figure out the best way for your teams:

• Are both teams using the same project configurations (issue types, workflows etc.)?
• How often do they collaborate on the same issues?
• Do you have Reports that would need to distinguish between issues from one team or the other?
• How is the backlog prioritized? 
• Are there any View/Edit restrictions on some or all issues?

[Jason Chayer]

@San CD - If the team finds it beneficial to have one project, and it makes sense, I would go that direction. I would get buy-in from your Scrum Master as well, but since it is the same person, I think that would be an easy argument to have.

You could still keep the separation of both teams on one board, just use swim lanes. Or, you could create a different board for each team.

There are a few options to accomplish the same end goal you have now.