Sprint is part of project or board ?

Tall Trees

I'm trying to understand how jira works with respect to backlogs & sprints. 

Observation 1:

My general understanding is that a project has a backlog & a sprint but that does not seem to be true when i delete all boards in a project. There is no dedicated backlog for a project. 

Observation 2:

Let's call the project in Observation 1 - Project 1

I've added the project with no boards ( Project 1 ) and Project 2 to the JQL filter in a scrum board ( SBoard-1 ) in Project 2. I've planned a sprint with tasks from both Project 1 and Project 2 and started it. I can see the tasks from both projects in SBoard-1 . Then i created another scrum board with the filter of tasks only in Project 1 . Without doing anything the sprint that was already started was showing. 

At this point i'm confused how a project, backlog and sprint's are all co-related ? 

I did not even get started with teams BTW. 

 

Manoj Kumar Gangwar

Hi @Tall Trees Welcome to the community!

Backlogs and Sprints are board-specific, not project-specific.

When you create a board, it pulls issues into the backlog and sprint based on the JQL filter associated with that board. If there is no board, there's no backlog view because it’s the board that defines the backlog and how issues are organized.

Deleting all boards in a project means there’s no backlog or sprint visible, but the issues still exist within the project. They are not tied to a backlog until a board references them.

Cross-Project Sprints (SBoard-1 example):

Sprints span multiple projects if your board filter includes issues from more than one project (as in your case with Project 1 and Project 2).

The sprint you started on the SBoard-1 (filter includes issues from both projects) appears on any other board (like the new board with only Project 1’s tasks) that includes the same issues because the sprint belongs to the issues, not just the board.

When you create another board (filtered for only Project 1), it will show the same active sprint because the issues from Project 1 are already part of that sprint. 

Relationship Between Backlogs, Sprints, and Projects:

Backlogs: These are tied to the board's filter, not the project itself. You can have multiple boards that represent different backlogs from the same project or across different projects.

Sprints: A sprint is tied to the issues selected from the backlog. Since issues can be in multiple projects, sprints can span across multiple projects. The sprint “lives” with the issues, not just on the board.

Projects: Projects are containers for issues. A project can have multiple boards, and each board can have its own backlog. Boards allow you to visualize and manage issues within the context of a sprint.

Observation 1: A project does not have a dedicated backlog; backlogs are board-specific. Without a board, there is no visible backlog.

Observation 2: The sprint includes issues from both projects due to the filter in SBoard-1. Creating another board with Project 1’s tasks will display the same sprint since those issues are already part of the active sprint.

This means backlogs and sprints are really defined by how boards are set up and their filters, rather than being tied directly to the projects themselves.