Best set-up advice for single scrum team with multiple products

Lisa Reynolds February 26, 2014

If you run 1 scrum team, so 1 sprint at a time, but this team works on multiple products (av. 10)


What are the advantages/disadvantages of setting up jira agile...


With one project with various 'components' for the different products. So create 1 agile board + 1 project.

OR

Set up multiple projects - 1 for each of our products. Then create 1 scrum board which feeds from all these multiple projects.

Thanks!

1 answer

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Answer accepted
David G February 27, 2014

Solution 1: One Agile Board, One Project

Advantages:

  • Easier to maintain if business users outside of IT also add/contribute in JIRA
  • Easier maintenance for Roles, users, etc.

Disadvantages:

  • More complex custom filters will be needed to discern different products within the project
  • Difficult to track product fix versions and releases
  • Can't make use of JIRA's build integration
  • Excessive versions list needing to list every fix version for every product
  • Excessive components list needing to contain components from every product
  • Custom fields that pertain to some products may not be relavent for others
  • High maintenance to set some fields as required for only some products but not others
  • Higher probability of placing Product A's values on an issue designed for Product B
  • One project means one workflow, cannot easily adapt to the needs of individual products

Solution 2: One Agile Board, Multiple Projects

Advantages:

  • More separation allows for better product customization needs across different products
  • Clear and concise product fix versions, only listing results for current product
  • Clear and concise component, only listing results for current product
  • Can utilize JIRA's Build integration (if you wish)
  • Easy to customize project's fields to an individual product's development/support needs
  • Custom workflow per product if needed
  • Custom Permissions Scheme, Notification Scheme, etc per project if needed
  • Can adapt to changing needs, or expired products no longer supported
  • Can setup inbound mail handing for issue creation based on product

Disadvantages:

  • Higher maintenance for any project that doesn't use a shared workflow
  • Higher maintenance and initial setup up for each product
  • Business users may add/contribute new issues and select the wrong project
  • Fix Versions and components will all need to be managed separately

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