Single development project with multiple business project

[Tim Mrazek]

I'm struggling on how to handle our new projects and how they relate back to our single development project. Recently, I've been reading about managing all your development issues in a single project and breaking out the services/pages/etc. as components. This make it easier to manage the teams schedule, especially when the whole team isn't very large.

If we were to follow that path, would we create business projects seperate from the main development one? Then create issues bases on the project requirements to then link to epic/stories in the development project? Or is there another method for organizing these issue? Do I just break out these seperate project requirements in specific Confluence pages and manage with just project documentation and the development project?

[Brant Schroeder · Accepted solution]

@Tim Mrazek This is a great question and it can have many answers.  I have had teams where I ran multiple projects or everyone out of a single project.  I think it really comes back to how you are structuring your teams and the work.  Let me help by providing some examples.  

I recently ran a ERP implementation where I have three distinct areas of work with many teams working in those areas.  Each area had a project lead that oversaw the work being done in that area.  Because of this We had two software and one business project.  This allowed us to monitor and control the work in each area helping keep a focus on each while monitoring the overall project.  Each team had access to all three projects and we created dashboards for managers to help them oversee work.  All teams used a single project Confluence space for documentation, meetings, etc.  This structure worked well for how we setup our teams and allowed us to manage each project as part of the lager project / program.

I am currently working on a project where we have software development and business work.  I am responsible for all of the work.  I have directors, managers and team members helping move the work forward.  We utilize a single software project to move the work forward.  Since I am responsible for monitoring and controlling all work a single project worked easiest for me.  We run multiple parallel sprints for each are (functional and development).  I have different types of issue types with different workflows for development, financial, HR, and security tasks.  We also have some custom fields and use components to help organize and track work.  By keeping it in a single project I am able to use the software reports to better understand how the work is going and help move it forward.  

So here is what I recommend:

• Think about the structure of the team?  Who is responsible for what?
• Think about how your teams work and how they are structured?
• Then look at the tools available in Jira and how they can benefit your team for the way you work.
  • Projects, Issues, Workflows, Custom Fields, etc.
  • Reports
  • Boards
  • etc

You should then be able to use this information to best structure the projects for your team.  I would also add that you should not be afraid to make adjustments as you learn more about Jira or how your team works.  I am constantly taking feedback from my teams and making changes to help the team be successful.

[Tim Mrazek]

Brant,

Thank you for the very well thought out response. We ended up using some of the suggestions in here for organizing our issues into a single project. Components and label were a big part of that. Now to not go overboard with them.