Will adding new hierachy level disrupt existing structure?

Question

We use initiatives as a way to group epics across projects. Now some teams request another (parallel) hierarchy level, to group epics within projects.

I’m afraid that inserting an additional hierarchy level (issue – epic – pillar – initiative)  will disrupt the current structure we have adopted (issue – epic – initiative). Since we don’t have a test environment, I wondered if some of you have already tried this.

Daan Boesjes · Answer

Hello Dave

Thanks for your clear and swift answer. As you suggested, bringing the needs and expectations of my stakeholders in line, combined with a demonstation in the sandbox environment, solved my problem.

Grtz, Daan

Dave Rosenlund (Trundl) · Answer

Hi, @Daan Boesjes.  There's a lot of discussion on this topic here in the community. Some would argue conformity is the key: Elicit feedback from all stakeholders and settle on *one way* of doing things so you can have an orderly and clean hierarchy across all of your projects and teams.

Others argue that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every team has unique needs (some imagined, but some real) and flexibility is the key.

Ultimately, you (and your stakeholders) have to decide whether flexibility or conformity will rule. Once you do, you have to have the tooling in place that will support your decision.

Generally speaking, Advanced Roadmaps (part of Jira Cloud Premium) is for companies that choose conformity. It (and Jira) prescribes a certain hierarchy. It works best when everyone does things the same way in the same hierarchy.

If flexibility wins out, the Atlassian Marketplace has a number of PPM products (my company makes one of them - Structure for Jira) that would enable you to do what you describe above.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

-dave [ALM Works]