Choice of JIRA software or Jira Management...or their integration?

[Wanda Gomes]

Hi guys hope you can help :) I'm using JIRA SOFTWARE to track and manage development projects. I need to include all departments (production, DEV, purchasing and operations) in JIRA. I CURRENTLY use JIRA SOFTWARE for the DEV. Is there a workflow for hardware production?Is it possible that I use JIRA MANAGEMENT for this? As ? Is there a workflow to follow my hardware production tasks?

[John Funk]

Hi Wanda,

Yes, you can do what you are suggesting. You can create two different projects using JSW for the Dev and JWM for the Hardware if you like. Then you can create a third board which would show a consolidation of both projects. Just be sure to create each project as a Company-managed project. 

Here's an article on how to create that third board. The only change in there is to create the filter for the third board to include both projects (Project in (ABC, XYZ) ORDER by Rank).

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Agile-articles/Creating-a-Second-Agile-Board-for-Team-Managed-or-JIra-Work/ba-p/2115018

[John Funk]

You will need to set that third board up as a Kanban board if the Dev team is using Scrum. And in that case it should only be used for viewing and not bypass the built-in functionality of the Scrum board. 

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Wanda Gomes 

Are you looking for a template Workflow?

There are lots of Project templates available across Jira Software and Jira Work Management - you could look if one would work for your team? You can also see more details about what each Project includes if you can Create Projects:

1. Go to Projects > Create Project
2. Review Project Templates (categories are on the left-hand side)
3. Click the See Details hyperlink on any template to see Issue Types, Statuses, etc

Or, you can design/build your own Workflow, based on what your team needs!

This is a good help page to start with to understand Workflow customisation :) You can also check out this page for how to customise Company-managed Project Workflows, or this page for Team-managed Project Workflows.

Ste

[Wanda Gomes]

Hi Ste, thanks for the reply. My company is a startup with 20 employees. We produce a product that is divided into hardware and software, so we want to control the tasks of the DEV team and the production team (basic level, just visualize and get an idea of ​​deadlines and tasks, nothing too complex). For the DEV team we are already using JIRA SOFTWARE, but for the Production team I am thinking of applying JIRA Work Management. But the question is whether I will be able to see all the tasks in both JIRAs on just one screen? (JIRA integration?). How do I link these two areas and everyone can see each other's progress and be able to interact between the areas? thank you support.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Wanda Gomes 

You need to make decisions on how to setup your Project(s).

For example:

• Are Software and Hardware tasks done by different teams? Or are teams cross-functional?
• What does a Jira Project represent - is it a team? A product? A project?
• Should these tasks be different Issue Types? Or are Issue Types designed to be cross-work type (eg. Stories are user goals, Tasks are for NFRs, etc)?
• Is there a different Workflow for Software and Hardware tasks? Or could a generic Workflow work across both of them (eg. To Do > In Progress > Done)?
• ...etc

Making decisions on how to setup your instance now will help keep it clean and concise in future.

The core decision for this question will be how to represent Software vs Hardware tasks, then you can make decisions on other configuration types in line with that.

What I would recommend though is if you are going to have multiple Projects, and want to show Issues from them on one, central Board - use the Company-managed Project type, as this is not possible with Team-managed Projects which offer one Board per Project.

Ste

[Wanda Gomes Antonio]

Thank you Guys @John Funk please,

**Yes, software and hardware tasks are performed by different teams.

**Teams are not cross-functional. But there will be interaction between them, as a process of day-to-day routines of departments.

**A Jira Project represents a project for a product, where the objective will be to ensure that the tasks to develop the product are managed. In other words, the objective is to manage the actions that will lead to the delivery of these products, focusing on two major areas (software development and hardware production)

**it depends, I may have a problem that branches to both areas (using a firmware that is incompatible with the processing board) so a problem would be: Processing problem.

** Yes, problems are basically designed to be cross-type.

 **Yes, this workflow example (To Do > In Progress > Done) would work (but the DEV team uses Scrum methodology and the rest would use Kanban, I don't know if it would make a difference)

** I'm going to follow the recommendation on the project managed by the company and try to run some tests however, Ste Could you give me a hand on how you would go about setting up a project like this? I'm totally lost here. Thank you.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Wanda Gomes 

You'll need to consider your own internal processes, alongside each team's needs, when deciding how to structure Jira.

Originally, I was going to send you a big list of things to consider - the difficulty is though that we don't know how your company is structured, nor what reporting/visibility is important to you.

I also think you should start simple. Get the teams using Jira, and iterate/evolve the designs as you go.

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What I would do is...

• Get together as a Team, and map out the end-to-end flow of work within your company - from creation/ideation, through to completion.
• Clarify what information is important to visualise in Jira - for example...
  • What categories of work are there? These would be Issue Types - for example, Story, Task, Bug, Spike, Risk, etc
  • What Statuses (stages of work) are important to track? For example, To Do, In Progress, In Testing, etc
  • What Field data should you track? For example, Dates, Estimation, Acceptance Criteria, Assignee/Reporter, Team, etc
  • Are Permissions important? Should delete be turned on?
  • ....etc
• But I'd also clarify how you want to work together - for example...
  • Define what each Issue Type will represent
  • Will all Tasks be separate, or could multiple teams work on the same Story?
  • How will Teams visualise their own work on a Board - using a Field? Label?
  • How will you come together as a company and visualise progress?
  • ...etc

The important point here is to try and decide on some key factors to help setup your Jira instance. You can always iterate/evolve it in future - so I would start simple and mature from there, as you also grow your Atlassian Administration experience.

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Note: Atlassian has very extensive, rich documentation to help you setup your Project - I would strongly encourage looking at it to help you on this journey - see: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/resources/

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Let us know what you think!

Ste