What's WORKFLOWS have for? Can I detach every project from them?

Question

hello folks,

wondering in an Agile methodology, what a workflow have for and why have they been implemented...

they just make things complicated: I need to update a board/project and suddenly, since it is using a "simplified workflow" I cannot add a custom status to my board...

some board magically update issue status, without anyone wanting jira to automatically do that!

is there any way to detach every project from the "workflow concept" as it is totally arbitrary?

Matthias Gaiser _K15t_ · Answer

You might want to check this article about simplified workflows. There's a summary what you can or can't do with a simplified workflow and also more an explanation what it is - and how maybe someone at your org switched you over to one.

mm_ambrogi · Answer

we are 7 teams working on Jira, Trello is not for us.

can't find the usefulness of a workflow, forcing statuses, when it's up to team members to update issue status.

anyways, need to find a solution for a Scrum Project Company managed, which suddenly has no longer the ability to ADD STATUSES due to a limitation imposed by "simplified workflow" even few days ago was working... :/

Matthias Gaiser _K15t_ · Answer

Hey @mm_ambrogi

all Jira projects and their issues are tied to workflows. Workflows are a fundamental concept of Jira where an issue can transition through multiple states - you can't get rid of it.

Board columns can be mapped to issue status so that when you move an issue from one column to the other your issue advances in the workflow. You can find more general information also in the Atlassian docs.

If you're looking for a more leight-weight tool, you might want to check out if Trello is more fitting to your needs.

Cheers,
Matthias.