Enhanced Jira board and backlog

Eoin

We’re excited to announce meaningful efficiency and performance improvements in Jira Software’s board and backlog on company-managed projects, designed to help you and your team work smarter, not harder.

Alongside a fresh look and feel, here are some of the enhancements you can look forward to…

⭐️ Inline issue editing on the backlog

Issue details can be edited directly on the backlog. Simply select an issue’s summary, assignee, status, parent, and priority field to edit. If you're working on a Scrum project, you can also edit the story points field.

⭐️ View settings

You can now take more control of the way you view your work.

You can control certain fields that have been added to the card - for backlog it is the status, epic (parent), and version field, for board it is the epic (parent) field. We will add to this list of fields over time.

In the backlog, you can select compact mode to reduce the height of the cards which will allow you to see more cards on your screen at one time.

There are toggles to show or hide the epic and the version panel.

There is a toggle to display Quick Filters as a horizontal row or to keep them in the Quick Filter dropdown to save on vertical space. 

⭐️ Make simple bulk edits on the backlog

You can now perform bulk changes without having to leave the backlog or open individual issues. With a few clicks, you can change the priority, assignee, labels, and estimate fields for up to 50 issues at once.

Select issues one at a time using the checkbox, or by holding "command" (for Apple devices) or "control" (for Windows devices) while you select each issue. To select a group of issues, hold "shift" while selecting. Once selected, right-click on any of the issues, or use the more actions (...) menu, then choose the bulk action you'd like to perform.

⭐️ Improved epic and version panels on the backlog

We’ve reorganized information in the epic and version panels to provide a more meaningful overview of your team's progress. You can track the number of issues in each epic or version, as well as your team’s progress for estimated tasks.

To open the epic or version panel, select the epic or version filter in the backlog, then switch on the toggle. Use keyboard shortcuts "E" and "V" to do it faster.

⭐️ More filters, ready to go

We’ve added more out-of-the-box filters to help you find issues faster in the board and backlog. Filter by epic, label, or issue type to search a busy board, and use the additional version filter on the backlog. These filters will appear once the field is used on an issue.

⭐️ More accessible

We are on a path to make Jira Software more inclusive. We have introduced additional keyboard shortcuts, a new command palette (cmd-k/ctrl-k), keyboard support for filters, keyboard support for date pickers, keyboard support for settings pages, and screenreader support for menu items. 

⭐️ Better performance

Interactions are smoother and more fluid, especially when your board and backlog have a large number of issues.

⭐️ More key changes

• The browser search function (ctrl-f/cmd-f) will now only search the portion of your board and backlog that is visible on your screen. To search the entire board and backlog, you can use the Search filter located to the left of the filter bar on the top of each page. Once you locate your issue you can perform common actions through the card context menu or by right-clicking on the card. If you would like to change the position of the issue relative to other issues, you must select the card and then Clear the filters using the button in the filter bar. Your page will be automatically scrolled to the topmost selected issue. 
• Full-screen mode is available through a new button on the top right of the page - look for the button with two diagonal arrows. This button will hide and show the side navigation menu and the top navigation menu so that you can focus on the work at hand. Quick tip - use the keyboard shortcuts 1 and 2 to switch between the board and backlog
• Issues in the backlog now have an optimized and responsive layout that makes it easier to parse the different types of information on each card. We’ve reorganized icons and fine-tuned their alignment for improved legibility. You’ll notice this on the priority, estimate (if using a Scrum board), flag, status, epic, and version fields. When resizing the backlog to accommodate smaller screen sizes, version fields will switch from a label to a ship icon, and epics will be indicated by the epic’s color.
• On the backlog, subtasks are now visible as cards - by default in a collapsed state. It's important to note, however, to have subtasks count towards sprint commitment and velocity - automation just be used to roll up original estimates from subtasks to the parent level.
• On the board, it’s easier to scan an issue’s most important details, thanks to an improved layout that better utilizes space and groups related details together.

• Colors have been improved for accessibility — you’ll notice this on flagged issues, column constraints, and the progress bar in the epic and version panels.

• When you filter by sprint, issues assigned to you, and recently updated issues, the results will appear instantly.

• When moving issues on the board, transition names are shown as dropzones in each column. If your board has multiple workflows, this helps your team better understand how work flows from To Do to Done.

• Issues in the backlog no longer need to be paginated. Just keep scrolling to view more issues.

• When splitting or flagging issues, you’ll notice a cleaner look and feel.

• After auditing the board and backlog, we identified features you didn’t find useful. Due to low usage, we’ve removed the ability to print issue cards and create linked pages for epics and sprints.

 

How do I give feedback?

Once we’ve addressed key feedback, users will have the new experience by default. This means that your feedback is incredibly important. In the enhancements menu, simply select Give feedback. If needed, and if you give us consent, we’ll reach out for more information so we can better assist you.

Dave Mathijs

@Eoin Looking forward to the EAP, signed up.