Can we use KanBan in a Business Project ?

[Ioannis Iliadis]

Hi all !!

Our Marketing Dept. would love to start using the KanBan visualization for their tasks. 

So far they were using tools like Trello etc. where they had to keep it updated with the related JIRA issues. 

I already tried to create a KanBan board for their projects and everything created normally. 

But are there any hints/tips when using a KanBan board for a business project ?

[Nic Brough [Adaptavist]]

Yes, Kanban is good for business projects, pretty much off the shelf. 

There are two things I think you need to consider:

1. The use of the "release" option that clears out your "done" column - your business users need to understand how that works (it sets a version on the issues, then releases the version.  The board sub-filter defaults to "don't show released versions", so releasing the version effectively clears the "done" column)
2. Kanban boards are Software functions, so your business users will need to have JIRA Software access to be able to use them

However, if you're on JIRA Cloud, you also have boards that aren't Kanban if you enable the "labs" - see https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiracorecloud/working-with-boards-800712866.html - this feature is in flux (that's what the labs are for - a test bed) and may not make it into the main product.  A lot of the labs experiments do not make it far.   However, given the noise about boards being needed in JIRA Core, I think it's a safe bet that something along those lines will be promoted

[Ioannis Iliadis]

Hey there Nic, 

Thank you so much for your instant response. 

Following your answer : 

1.  Is it obligated for our users (members from the Mkt dept) to use the release option ? Which are the advantages of that ? I am curious because I was thinking that it might not be obligatory for them to use it ..
2. Reg. the JIRA software access consider that everyone in the company use JIRA (server) which means that the access is not something to worry about. In any case if you mean something else e.g. a specific access to JIRA's software projects let me know, because there might be a possibility for the MKT team to have rights only for Business Projects . 

Thanks.

[Nic Brough [Adaptavist]]

1. Nope, they can be easily educated to ignore the column.  But it will get bigger and you'll need some way of keeping on top of it.
2. Core, Software and Service desk can be licenced separately, so it is entirely possible that your MKT team only have access to the Core/business stuff.  If that is the case, you'll want to think carefully before paying for more Software licences just so they can do Kanban.  But... a lot of people do just get JIRA Software without thinking about it, so you may already have it all.  Simple test - ask a business user to create a new board and see if they are offered Scruum or Kanban

[Daniel Laberge]

Has the Jira Core boards feature been released for non JIRA Cloud users? I can't find that info anywhere.

[Mary Jackson]

We have JIRA Software.  We also have some ticket queues that shouldn't be run as software projects.  I'd like to use Kanban with these – I like the explicit action of releasing the Done cards when I want, and being able to view a virtual release.  Once we get release automation tools integrated, I don't want business project tasks to take that path.  Sure would be nice...