Everything you want to know about next-gen projects in Jira Cloud

[#1]

What are Jira's next-gen projects?

Next-gen projects are:

• Faster to set-up than classic projects. You can quickly toggle on features like sprints or reports, allowing you to mix and match the best features of Scrum and Kanban
• Easier and faster to configure than classic projects. You can easily configure settings like issue types and fields with drag-and-drop editing and reordering all in a single place.
• Configured by project team members. Any team member with the project's admin role will can modify the settings of their next-gen projects.
• Contained to themselves. There currently is no way to associate with other project settings, schemes, global configuration objects.
• Only available on the Cloud platform.  By default, any licensed user can create these projects. You can change that if you need (see below).
• Come with a new roadmap that improves your ability to plan long-term and share your plans with stakeholders

Jira's next-gen projects simplify how admins and end-users set up their projects. They come with a re-imagined model for creating, editing and representing project settings. 

In classic projects, Jira admins configure a project using schemes to map shared objects to projects, like issue types, workflows, fields, and permissions. While schemes maximize the ability to share configurations across multiple projects, they can be difficult to understand. 

Over time, we've added additional layers of configuration to improve customization. But, these layers can make it more difficult for admins to learn and maintain their setup. We built next-gen projects to help fix this. They're easy to set up and will grow with more straight-forward customizations in the future.

Classic projects also leverage objects that exist only at a global level, across your entire Jira site. That makes it easy for Jira admins to push configuration changes across a bunch of projects. But conversely, end users are unable to manage configuration for their own projects. The burden of configuration falls entirely on Jira admins, making it a complex and time-consuming process to customize a project every time a new project or a new team comes to your Jira site.

With next-gen projects, we empower the project owners themselves to customize their projects based on their unique needs without bothering a Jira admin to help them. They can easily add or remove fields to their issue types, set up some interesting automated rules and more.

We know that organizations have multiple teams and projects with common workflows and standardized reporting. In the future, we will be working on making configuration reusable across different next-gen projects. For now, configuration is bounded by the project and fully controllable by project admins.

How do I know if I'm in a next-gen project?

On the bottom of your project sidebar, there will be an icon with text "You're in a next-gen project", along with a Give feedback and a Learn more link.

What are the differences between next-gen and classic projects?

Read more about the detailed differences at Classic and next-gen project templates in Jira Software Cloud

Can I read more about upcoming features on next-gen projects?

To find out what's shipped and what's coming for next-gen software projects, check out our public roadmap.

How can I create next-gen projects?

Read more about creating and editing next-gen projects.

I just created a next-gen project. Why are there so few features and settings? Where are my schemes?

Next-gen projects represent the future of Jira. We added the most-needed, most-common project settings first. And, we're constantly adding additional settings based on your feedback.

Next-gen projects don't have schemes. Your next-gen project's setup objects – for example, its issue types and fields – are all contained within the project. Since these objects are no longer dumped in the pool of global objects on your Jira site, you don't need schemes!

Soon, we'll give you the ability to extract your next-gen project settings into their own template, and link two or more projects' settings together. If you need to share configurations across projects today, you might be happier with a classic project.

What permission do I need to create a next-gen project? Can I control who creates these projects?

Jira admins can control which groups of users create next-gen projects using the Create independent projects global permission. Read more about global permissions. 

How do I add a new status to my workflow?

You can add a new status directly on your board. Simply add a new column, and drag and drop it into the spot you want. Next-gen projects support neat, linear workflows at the moment. More workflow configuration is coming soon.

What are rules?

Rules replace advanced workflow configuration operations like post functions, validations, conditions. Currently, there are two rules available to next-gen software projects:

• Automatically change an issue's assignee
  
• Automatically update an issue field

Learn about setting up lightweight workflow rules for your board at Add rules to your next-gen board.

Why aren't the issue types and custom fields I create in next-gen projects available to classic projects?

Any project configuration or customization you do in a next-gen project is independent and only available for that project. If you need to share issue types and custom fields across multiple projects, you might be happier with a classic project.

Can I reuse an issue type or custom field I created in one next-gen project in another next-gen project?

Today, you can't reuse an issue type or status from one next-gen project in another next-gen project. In the future, we'll introduce project templates which allow you to save and share an entire project configuration (issue types, fields, workflow, and more). Other teams in your organization can use these templates as a quick starting place for their own next-gen projects, or you can link a few projects together to share their settings.

Would all my ecosystem apps work in next-gen projects?

Yes! Most everything should work properly. But, we have borked a few things. If you're developing an app, learn what you need to know developing for next-gen projects.

Can I migrate or convert a next-gen project to classic project?

Jira admins can create a classic project and move their next-gen project issues into the new, classic project. Read more about migrating from next-gen to classic projects.

If you're not a Jira admin, ask your Jira admin to do this for you.

I don't want a next-gen project. Where are the templates I'm used to?

Read more about creating classic projects.

Interested in what's coming next? Please visit the public roadmap

New to next-gen projects in Jira Software Cloud? Check out this guide to getting started with next-gen projects

Would like to know a lot more about next-gen? Watch the new Jira begins now

[Alexey Matveev]

Great article! Thank you!

[Daniel Deng]

Hi Rayen, will next-gen projects be available for server/DC version?

[Toine de Greef]

I don't like the next-gen projects. Gimme classic. How?

[mythili]

@Daniel DengNext-gen projects are only available on the cloud version

[Peter Reiser]

Read more about creating and editing next-gen projects  link  is broken 

Can someone please fix it

[mythili]

Thanks @Peter Reiser We will fix the links shortly

[Rachel Salinas]

Hi there...doesn't look like i'm able to Select Classic project. There's no option! Any advice?

[mythili]

Hi @Rachel Salinas,

When you create a new project from the project list, it will default to the template of the previous project you created. Click on Change and choose any of the other templates  like scrum or kanban as shown in the images below.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Best,

-Mythili

[Amit Hanchinamani]

Hi, How can I add a third person as watcher to a ticket? Currently I do not see an option to do that.

[Joshua Sabol]

Can I migrate from a classic board to next-gen?

[Joshua Sabol]

Can I pull backlog items from older classic projects into one "master" next-gen project?

[Ramona Valcan]

Hello,

according to the documentation, there should be a 'Change' button under 'Project template'. However, I do not see it. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Full disclosure, I am new to the community and just starting to figure out Jira.

Thank you!

[Alaric Calmette]

Hello!

My admin just gave me the permission to create next-gen project. However I do not see the option in the list of templates available when I click change.

I thought it now defaulted to next gen but no, when I choose Kanban it's the same as "old" gen.

Any thoughts?

[Gregory Van Den Ham]

Literally stuck even remotely testing this out without the ability to change the workflow schema on this.  When will the ability to change workflow schemas associated with a project come online?

[Anil Kumar]

Really easy and more options to manage & create project now than earlier due to next-gen project.

I would love it more if Jira's next-Gen projects had ability to share version/release across the project in the system.

[Simon Ejsing]

I hope this also means required issue types:

"Required fields, default values and more custom field types and options coming soon."

[Jan Jones]

Is there a way to migrate a classic project to a next-gen project?

If not, is exporting/importing a possible workaround?

[adrian.wood]

@Jan Jones I just did a "bulk" change and moved the tickets from one project to the next-gen project. As the statuses are based on the columns of your board be sure to create these first if you want the tickets to remain in the same status after the migration.

[Joshua Sabol]

@Jan Jones I asked the same thing, no response.  Ultimately I was able to clone all items, move them to the next-gen project, and then scrub the issues once there.  Some features don't port over well (workflows, sub-tasks, spikes, labels (I forget)).  Hope that helps.

[Steve Whitaker]

Hi,

In the article above you note "Track your project's milestones, themes or epics with a brand new timeline view. Plan, manage, and visualize epics on your team's roadmap, and share it with stakeholders for easy communication."

I have spent some time looking at the options and the roadmap only seems to be able to display epics.

There doesn't seem any functionality to group epic by theme? I can label an epic but this doesn't display on the roadmap

There doesn't seem to be any functionality for milestone? Other than creating an epic milestone.

As a product manager this is definitely a step in the right direction the "classic" jira it was hard to have high level conversations without a lot of work setting up confluence pages. Look forward to seeing this feature develop but understand the  challenge of keeping it simple whilst getting 100's of wish list features from the likes of me :)

Cheers,

Steve

[Jan Jones]

Adrian / Joshua, many thanks for the helpful answers :-)

[Michael Ritacco]

What is the plan for next gen Releases and Components? Also had the same question as Steve above. Need for themes and initiative grouping of Epics is a planning must have with milestones.

[Katie O'Dowd]

In addition to project templates, I thought I read somewhere that introducing issue templates was also on the next-gen roadmap. Is that still the case? 

[Laurin Stoll]

What does it mean on the other Hand? What About the future of jira classic Projects? Will they be abandoned in the mid future?

[Elliot Gates]

For anyone wanting to migrate, (you essentially need to make the project from scratch and move everything across) see here.

Personally I will be waiting until a few of the 'coming soon' features are introduced.