Best Setup for Managing Multiple Teams with a Single Backlog in Jira

João Correia_5ls2a2

Hello Atlassian Community,

We are in the process of optimizing our Jira setup for managing multiple teams and would appreciate your thoughts and experiences. We have a single backlog in a single project containing all items to be developed, and 8 different teams working on various parts of the product. Our goal is to maintain an organized structure while giving teams the autonomy to work independently.

Specifically, we are considering the following:

1. Single Backlog, Separate Boards:

   • We want to keep a single backlog that contains all work items but have a separate board for each of the 8 teams.
   • Is this a good approach to ensure clarity and focus for each team?

2. Sprints: Separate or Shared?

   • Should we have separate sprints for each team so they can start and end their work independently (which we believe would be ideal)? Having 8 separate sprints means that in our single Backlog will have at least 8 sprints showing up.
   • Or is there a reason why it might be better to have a single, shared sprint across all teams, even though each team will work on different items?

3. Assigning Tasks to Specific Teams:

   • How do you manage which tasks or issues should be assigned to which team, especially when the backlog is shared across teams? Do you have specific criteria or tags to help with the assignment process? We currently use the Team field.
   • In particular, how do you handle cross-functional or ambiguous tasks? Is there a clear ownership process in place?

4. Managing Production Bugs:

   • How do you handle production bugs? How do you decide which team is responsible for fixing a production issue?
   • Do you have a system in place for prioritizing and assigning production bugs, or do you manage it on a case-by-case basis?

We are leaning toward separate sprints for each team, and we have some ideas about managing bugs, but we’d love to hear from others who have faced similar challenges. Any best practices, pros/cons, or lessons learned would be really helpful!

Looking forward to your feedback!

Ashish Bijlwan_zogaqs

Hi @João Correia 

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

Please find below:

1. Single Backlog, Separate Boards

Approach: Having a single backlog is an excellent approach to ensure that all work items are visible and consolidated. This is ideal because it gives you a centralized view of all tasks across teams, which helps prevent silos and enables better prioritization.

 However, each team having separate boards provides clarity and focus for the individual team members. The boards can be filtered based on specific criteria (such as team, component, or custom fields like the Team field) to ensure each board only displays relevant work items for that team.

 Best Practice:

•  Use Quick Filters on each board to show only the work relevant to a particular team.
• Ensure each team board is set up with appropriate swimlanes (such as by team or priority) to improve visualization of their work.
• Use components or labels to further segment work items by team.

2. Sprints: Separate or Shared?

Separate Sprints (Recommended): It's generally a better practice to have separate sprints for each team, especially if teams work at different paces or have different sprint goals. This allows each team to independently start and end their sprints, providing flexibility for different workflows.

 With separate sprints:

•  Teams can move at their own pace and adapt their velocity based on their capacity.
• The backlog will display multiple sprints, but this won't affect visibility as long as the board filters are set up properly.
• Teams can use custom fields like Team or Sprint to filter and organize backlog items for better prioritization.
• Shared Sprint (Less Ideal): Having a shared sprint across all teams can work if the teams are very closely aligned and working on the same project or feature set. However, this can lead to confusion in terms of team focus and lead to difficulty in managing the flow of work between teams. A shared sprint may be problematic if teams have drastically different work types or velocities.

 Best Practice:

•  Use separate sprints if team needs differ.
• If you do go for a shared sprint, set clear guidelines around task assignment to teams and team-based filters to avoid confusion.
• Consider a cross-team sprint if the work overlaps across multiple teams in a single sprint but ensure you have clear responsibilities.

3. Assigning Tasks to Specific Teams

Managing which tasks are assigned to which team can be handled with a combination of fields and filters in Jira:

 Best Practice:

•  Use the Team field (which you are already using) for task ownership. This allows each item to be assigned to a specific team, and you can easily filter the backlog for work items assigned to each team.
• Custom Fields: Consider using custom fields like Component or Label to further differentiate tasks by function or type of work (e.g., development, QA, etc.).
• Automations: Set up Jira automations to assign tasks based on certain criteria, such as a task type, team name, or project.
• Clear Ownership for Ambiguous Tasks: For cross-functional or ambiguous tasks, create a process where these tasks are reviewed by a cross-functional team or an epic owner (someone responsible for ensuring the task is routed correctly). Use status labels or a "triage" phase to help clarify ownership.
• Workflows: Design workflows that trigger notifications or field updates when tasks are assigned to different teams to ensure proper tracking and accountability.

4. Managing Production Bugs

Managing production bugs is an important process. Typically, production bugs require fast response times, clear ownership, and prioritization.

 Best Practice:

•  Create a dedicated board or filter for production bugs so they can be tracked separately from feature development. You can have one central backlog, but use filters or dedicated boards to ensure they get quick attention.
• Use the priority field and custom labels (such as Production Bug) to ensure these bugs stand out in the backlog.
• Assign bugs based on expertise: Depending on the type of bug (e.g., front-end, back-end, infrastructure), assign the bug to the appropriate team. Ensure the Team field and Components are correctly utilized to indicate which team owns the bug.
• Consider setting up SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for bug resolution to ensure timely fixes.
• For critical bugs, set up automation rules to automatically notify relevant teams or escalate issues based on certain criteria (e.g., severity, environment).
• Consider triaging production bugs before assigning them—this could be done by a designated individual or a small cross-team group who reviews and assigns the bug to the appropriate team for resolution.

 

Thank you,
Ashish