Why is setting the category of a project so non-obvious?

[Ray Kiddy]

I am looking at our list of projects in JIRA. I am in the 'Browse Projects' page and the 'All Projects' navigation tab is selected. There is also a 'No Category' navigation tab directly above that.

So, here is a list of projects broken out by category. And the functionality to set the catogory of a project is ... somewhere else? Where? Where else would it be?

Sorry if this question seems newbie-ish. There are just so many things in JIRA where I am looking at X, Y, and Z and I can change X and Y and, in order to change Z, I have to go to some completely different part of the application. I think these just need to be called out.

[JoeR · Accepted solution]

I agree with Ray, inconsistencies. My peeve is that you can't rename a workflow but you can rename everything else. But let's focus on this one.

Why not put the Project Category setting along with the other project settings? Use a select list of the existing categories. I can set the URL here, but I can't set the URL where I can set the category back on the project. Neither of these settings is important, but making users go to more than one place to set them is not good design.

[JoeR]

Like Timothy Chin mentioned, the solution is in this document

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Defining+a+Project

It says:

About project categories:

The project category is not edited in the Edit Project dialog. Instead, click the link next to the Category field (under the project name) on the project Administration page.

I actually think reading this backwards is easier, that is:

Go to the Project

Click Administration

Below the project name are several links, click the link next to "Category:"

Now you can change the Category!

Funny how they mention that this is not in the Edit Project dialog (where it belongs)!

[Deleted user]

Perfect, glad I read all the way to the bottom. Moderator should wipe out everything up to Joe's comments.

[kevin conroy]

Quick and easy answer summary  - THANKS!

Crazy how you can't create a project category and then move a whole bunch of projects into it; having to go to project-admin-category on each on is time consuming.

Typical JIRA though - user UI, pretty sweet, admin UI.. could do with a bit more love and thought. (er, a bit like my own solutions)

[Timothy]

It would be in the Administration of the project.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Defining+a+Project

[Ray Kiddy]

And yet the 'Browse Project' view shows me Projects and Categories. I can click on a Project. Can I click on a Category? No. Why not? Why not have the thing to be changed near the display of it?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Because it's something you do at a project level.

[Ray Kiddy]

So, if I was able to cclick on the Category, then that could take me to the Project Administration page where I could set the Category? And it coud even select the correct sub-part of the page.

[Timothy]

This is from the latest version of JIRA. Not sure what you're complaining about.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

So you'd need a link on the page next to each project to say "admin this project to change it's category"?

[Ray Kiddy]

No the "Browse Projects" page, I see the bit below. Both "MOBILE" and "Other Projects" look like links. They could be links. The "Android" and "iPad" below are links.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

But you set the category for projects on the project. You can't set them from categories because if you're displaying "Category 1", you need to descend into the projects in order to change them.

I think I'm completely missing something here - I can't work out what you're asking for.

[Timothy]

Maybe what you see is different. This is from http://jira.atlassian.com.

[Ray Kiddy]

Click on the "All Projects" tab at the bottom or the red box. It takes you to a page which has:

• Category1
  • Project1
  • Project2
• Category2
  • Project3
• etc.

The "Project1", "Project2" and "Project3" are links that take me to the project.

The "Category1" and "Category2" look like links. They are blue text. They are not links. They could be links and they could take me to the place where I can set the categories for projects, if such a place exists.

[Ray Kiddy]

Yes! And you say this because you know that a category is an attribute of a project in this implementation. But is that obvious? Why is so difficult to imagine saying "I have a category and I want to edit that category by adding or removing a project"? It is just a matter of perspective. So, does the user have to grok the perspective of the implementation or should the implementation work with the viewpoint that is natural to a user?

The implementation could even be smart enough to, in this view, allow the user to drag and drop a project from one category to another. Behind the scenes, the implementation would have to edit the project, removing one category and adding the other. But why should the user care how that happens? And yeah the user would have to be able to authenticate for administration. Fine. That is doable.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, that helps clear it up for me. " allow the user to drag and drop a project from one category to another" Sorry, I didn't quite get it before. Drag and drop would work as an improvement to a category list.

I suspect it's not been done like that because category simply doesn't change very much for most users. You usually know a category when you create a project, and it probably only changes when your business units are re-organised, or your working methods are heavily revised.

[MattS]

Unless you use the project category as a piece of project metadata, e.g. Draft, Active, Inactive. Project categories are the forgotten stepchild of JIRA configuration!

[Frank Vidal]

Can someone explain to me how to change the category for a project? I can't seem to figure that part out. Thanks.