Project updates in Jira

Question

Hi Atlassian community,

We currently use a combination of Jira and a spreadsheet to review the progress and status of all the projects we run within my team (over 60 projects at any given time).

In the spreadsheet, we can post project updates in 1 cell. I am trying to replicate this in Jira, and am struggling to find the best way of doing this. I have tried using the Comment field, but we need to allow multiple users to post updates in the same area of the project.

The project updates in the "next steps" cells are typically in this format:

"DD/MM/YY DL Progress made on XYZ. Delays with XYZ. Issues with XYZ. Blocker with XYZ."

And, there's an update from 2 people within my team per week. So, that's why the cell is ginormous!

Would you have any recommendations?

Thanks,

Domi

Aron Gombas _Midori_ · Answer

I agree with @David Nickell suggesting that a plain vanilla "multi-line text" custom field can do the job.

But, you could also consider using goals to track your project portfolio! These will become first class objects in the Jira model, and regular status updates are a core part of goals:

It sounds like a good fit to your use case.

David Nickell · Answer

I do have an idea ....  I've created custom fields (wiki style text) for this exact challenge.  Many times I will call it "executive summary" or similar.  Since it is a single field on the form, it becomes easy to include that field in a status report (export of an issue navigator for example).

Happy reporting!