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Newbie stuck due to blockers

David Hay_oo2sps

Hi,

We have just started with Jira and have run into a couple of blockers we can't for the life of us figure out! We're pretty surprised as we've used Jira before.

1. We accepted the defaults to create a new space/project. Created epics and tasks underneath them. We can see the epics in the LIst, but not in the Board?!

2. We want to use Kanban. It's not clear if the default Board utilizes Kanban? I tried to go create a board, but it won't recognize our space/project in the Project field.

Can anyone guide me here please?!

Accepted answers

Trudy P Claspill

Hello

Chiming in to add some additional clarification to @John Funk 's response and ask some additional questions.

To get the Space type (if you don't know how) click on the ... button next to the Space name in the navigation panel on the left. The space type information is the last two lines in the pop-up. Example:

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.45.55 PM.png

Both lines are important to fully understand the type of space you are using.

If you are trying to create additional boards your project will not be listed if it is either Team Managed or a Business space. The option to create additional boards from the Boards list was built based on Company-managed Software space architecture, so does not list the other types of Spaces. For a Team-managed Software space you can follow the guidance in this article:

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/Multiple-boards-in-Business-and-Team-Managed-Projects-You-bet/ba-p/1719761

For Business Spaces a new feature has been released to support multiple boards. If you are using that type of Space let us know and I'll provide a pointer to the relevant information.

If you are using a Software space, do you see a tab labeled Backlog?

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.52.56 PM.png

If you do not and you have confirmed it is a Software space then you are definitely using a Kanban board.

If you do have a Backlog tab then check to see if it has a button to Create Sprint at the top of the item list with the header Backlog. If it does, then you are definitely using a Scrum board.

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.55.24 PM.png

When you have a Team-managed Software space or a Company-managed Software space using a Scrum board, the Epics will be viewable only through the Backlog tab and the Epics panel therein.

When you have a Company-managed Software Space using a Kanban board with the Backlog tab there is an option you can set to tell the system you want to see the Epics as cards on the Board. If you are not using the Backlog tab then the Epics will automatically display as cards on the Board.

When you have a Team-managed Software space using a Kanban board the Epics will never display as cards on the Board. Without the Backlog you can Group By Epic to see each Epic as a swimlane, or otherwise see the parent Epic Summary displayed in each card. With the Backlog you can see the Epics in the Backlog tab in the Epic panel.

That's a lot of information to digest. Here are some resources to help you:

Learn how company-managed and team-managed spaces differ

Create and plan work with Scrum and Kanban

You might also benefit from accessing the free, on-demand training available from the Learning link at the top of the Community pages. Here are a few items to check out.

Compare company-managed spaces and team-managed spaces in Jira

Courses related to Scrum:

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=scrum

Courses related to Kanban:

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=kanban

And project setup:

Set up Jira software projects to enable your team

All comments

John Funk

Hi David,

A couple of questions - what type of space did you create? Team-managed? Company-managed? And further, which type - Software? Business? Jira Service Management?

Typically, you do not show the Epic cards on the same Kanban board as the Story/Task cards as often they follow a different workflow.

Trudy P Claspill

Hello

Chiming in to add some additional clarification to @John Funk 's response and ask some additional questions.

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.45.55 PM.png

Both lines are important to fully understand the type of space you are using.

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/Multiple-boards-in-Business-and-Team-Managed-Projects-You-bet/ba-p/1719761

For Business Spaces a new feature has been released to support multiple boards. If you are using that type of Space let us know and I'll provide a pointer to the relevant information.

If you are using a Software space, do you see a tab labeled Backlog?

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.52.56 PM.png

If you do not and you have confirmed it is a Software space then you are definitely using a Kanban board.

If you do have a Backlog tab then check to see if it has a button to Create Sprint at the top of the item list with the header Backlog. If it does, then you are definitely using a Scrum board.

Screenshot 2026-02-25 at 3.55.24 PM.png

When you have a Team-managed Software space or a Company-managed Software space using a Scrum board, the Epics will be viewable only through the Backlog tab and the Epics panel therein.

That's a lot of information to digest. Here are some resources to help you:

Learn how company-managed and team-managed spaces differ

Create and plan work with Scrum and Kanban

You might also benefit from accessing the free, on-demand training available from the Learning link at the top of the Community pages. Here are a few items to check out.

Compare company-managed spaces and team-managed spaces in Jira

Courses related to Scrum:

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=scrum

Courses related to Kanban:

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=kanban

And project setup:

Set up Jira software projects to enable your team

David Hay_oo2sps

hello John and Trudy!

Thanks so much for the info / questions. I can confirm the following:

- Software Space

- Team Managed

- We do have a Backlog tag under the space

- I don't see an option to create a Sprint under Backlog

If I chose Epic under Group on the top right, I do now see the epics with tasks underneath. However, I can't see Epic / Task / Subtask, which is actually the view we'd like to operate at in the To Do column - so it's easy to drag subtasks into In Progress.

Another issue surfaced, though, which I can't figure out and would be grateful for help on - I'd like to add some other Status' and map those to Columns on the Board. I can't see any way to add Status'?

Am I going to regret using a Team Managed board?

David Hay_oo2sps

ok - I finally found a way to open the Workflow section and add the status'

Trudy P Claspill

However, I can't see Epic / Task / Subtask, which is actually the view we'd like to operate at in the To Do column - so it's easy to drag subtasks into In Progress.

Team Managed projects don't support showing both Subtasks and their parent issues as cards on the board at the same time.

In a Team-managed board the only way to see the Subtasks as cards on the board is to set the Group option to Subtasks. Then you get a swimlane per Task.

Screenshot 2026-02-27 at 2.03.48 PM.png

When grouping by Epic you can see that a task has subtasks by seeing the org chart symbol on the card.

Screenshot 2026-02-27 at 2.05.24 PM.png

Only in a Company Managed project is it possible to see subtasks and their parent items as cards on the board at the same time.

John Funk

Short answer is Yes, you will regret using a Team-managed project. :-)

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