What is the best practice to make the Epic workflow?

[Srinivsarao Mutyam]

My ask is, what is the best practice to make the Epic workflow?

[Sanjog Sigdel]

Hello @Srinivsarao Mutyam 

Welcome to the community.

Please find a simple workflow  I've designed for EPIC.

My requirement for EPIC workflow was simple.

• The Product owners create Stories which initially comes to the Triage Phase.
• When the ticket is ready it will be moved to the Program Backlog.
• Here the Product Owner discusses, negotiates the requirements mentioned in ticket with the Product Managers/Client/CEO.
• Once Approved it goes to the Implementing Phase, then Validating and either Released on Done Status.

There are some transitions to be added for moving tickets back to previous statuses and I might also add more statuses. But this is the basic one I have created. Also this workflow is currently inactive. I am yet to finalize it.

[Mohammed Aamer Khan]

Hi @Srinivsarao Mutyam

Building workflows in Jira Cloud for the Epic issue type requires careful planning and consideration of your team's specific needs. Here are some best practices to follow:

1. Understand Your Process: Before creating a workflow, thoroughly understand your team's or organization's process for handling epics. Gather input from stakeholders to ensure you're capturing all necessary steps and stages.

2. Keep it Simple: Simplicity is key. Try to keep your workflow as simple as possible while still meeting your needs. Overly complex workflows can confuse users and make it harder to track progress.

3. Identify Key Stages: Define the key stages an epic goes through in its lifecycle. Common stages include "To Do," "In Progress," "In Review," and "Done." Tailor these stages to match your process.

4. Add Statuses: Create statuses for each stage of the workflow. Statuses indicate the current state of the epic. For example, you might have statuses like "In Planning," "In Development," and "In Testing."

5. Set Up Transitions: Determine how epics move from one status to another. Create transitions that represent the allowed movement between statuses. Be explicit about who can perform these transitions (e.g., only certain roles or groups).

6. Use Conditions and Validators: To control when transitions are available, use conditions and validators. Conditions can restrict transition options based on certain criteria (e.g., only allow "In Progress" if certain fields are filled). Validators can ensure required information is provided before a transition can occur. 

7. Backward Compatibility: If you're changing an existing workflow, consider how the changes will affect existing epics. Ensure that backward compatibility is maintained and that ongoing work isn't disrupted.

By following these best practices, you can create an effective workflow for Epic issue types in Jira Cloud that aligns with your team's needs and helps streamline your project management processes.

[Srinivsarao Mutyam]

Thanks,

Kindly provide any sample workflow for our ref:

Use case: Examples below

Product Development/Software Development

Supply chain

Farmaceuticas

Thanks in advance

[Adam Rigby]

A standard Epic issue type only has three statuses "To Do", "In Progress", and "Done" - see the Epic Status field. The trick is to NOT have an issue status complicate what the Epic status actually is. The simplest and best approach is to create a separate workflow for the Epic issuetype and include transitions between all states to update the issue state. Remember to also set the resolution field at "To Do" and also Done.

I also include a trash status to make life easier, if it's in trash it's still in the project but not on the board. I set the resolution to "Won't Do" and Epic Status to Done for Epics moved to trash. The idea here is to empty the trash after 2 weeks/month or move into a hidden project just in case it's needed. I've had incidents where people delete issues and then want them back, this is the simple fix for that problem.