What are the current differences between Software Project and Business Projects?

[EnEm]

I have seen the suggestion to just use Software Projects for both Business and Software. This is what I am thinking of doing. There were several extra features in the Software Project functionality and only a couple of missing things that were only available in Business projects (such as approvals).

Can anyone give me a quick summary of the current differences between the two. I realise these may be narrowing as the two products merge.

Has anyone got experience of using this approach (software projects for work management) and seen any pros and cons?

Thanks for any help.

[Nikola Perisic · Accepted solution]

Hello @EnEm 

The main difference between software and business projects is that business projects are leaned towards non technical tasks, for example: HR, finance, sales, business, etc. A pro for both of the project templates is that they both come with preconfigured templates:

Software - Scrum, Kanban, Top level planning, bug tracking (this one is used at least).

Work management - lots of templates for Sales, HR, finance, etc.

Business projects are not really using the Agile practices like software development ones. Since software dev projects are all about Agile practices. Most of the business projects will have different issue types rather than the default software ones which are: epic, story, tasks and bugs. User stories are particularly used for software tasks and feature requests. Sales campaign business template for example has one issue type which is leads.

Another difference is that business projects have the Attachments manager, where you can see all of the attachments in one place and sort them out by the type, software projects do not have this. 

Business projects have a different summary than the software projects:

Business - the summary is about the issue statistics like how many were done under one week, how many in progress, how many in highest priority, and etc. More analytical approach.

Software - Summary is an overview of the whole project mostly schemes (workflow, priority, screens, issue types, etc.). Software projects are focused on the execution. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @EnEm 

With the continuing UX changes in Jira Cloud, there are more and more features aligning between Jira Software and Jira Work Management (i.e., business projects): https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/the-new-jira

Please review these sources for some comparisons and features:

• https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Work-Management-Articles/What-is-a-business-project/ba-p/1693132
• https://support.atlassian.com/jira-work-management/resources/

An additional consideration is the differences between company-managed and team-managed project types, both of which are supported by Software and JWM.  For that distinction, generally the first helps with aligning project configuration and the second helps with flexibility (at the cost of reduced alignment, reporting, etc.)

Kind regards,
Bill

[Tasbih Digital]

Key Differences

1. Software Projects:

   • Designed for agile teams with features like sprints, backlogs, and epics.
   • Built-in tools for development workflows (e.g., Git integrations, release management).
   • Customizable issue types to track bugs, features, and tasks.

2. Business Projects:

   • Focused on simpler workflows like approvals and general task tracking.
   • Pre-configured templates for non-technical teams (e.g., HR, marketing).
   • Fewer advanced features (e.g., no sprints or detailed development boards).

Using Software Projects for Work Management

Pros:

• Unified Tools: All teams use the same system, reducing the learning curve.
• Advanced Features: Agile methodologies can be adapted for non-software work, providing flexibility.
• Scalability: Software projects are better equipped for growing teams with complex needs.

Cons:

• Overhead for Non-Tech Teams: Some business users might find agile-specific features unnecessary.
• Missing Approval Workflows: If your business processes rely heavily on approvals, this could be a gap.

Tips for Success

• Customize Workflows: Modify the software project boards to include business-specific fields or statuses.
• Training: Provide basic training to non-tech teams to help them adapt.
• Explore Automation: Use automation rules to simulate approval processes.

For inspiration on managing digital tools effectively, you might find some ideas on Tasbih Digital, which focuses on simplicity and practical functionality. While it’s not a project management tool, its intuitive approach could provide useful insights.

Let me know if you'd like more insights or examples of how teams have successfully implemented this approach!

Best,

[Tasbih Digital]

Using software projects for work management can be an efficient approach, especially if the functionality aligns with your needs. From experience, software projects typically offer advanced features like version control, task dependencies, and integrations with development tools, which are ideal for tech-heavy environments. However, they might lack business-focused elements like budget tracking or approval workflows.

For guidance on optimizing workflows with tools like WordPress integrations for project dashboards, check out resources that explore innovative solutions in project management. Balancing features with your team's requirements is key!

[EnEm]

Thanks everyone. Very helpful answers. I do wish this was more clearly explained in the docs, but it looks as though leaning on the community works well.

Here is a related question (happy to post as a new question). Business projects have only one board. I have read about ways round this, but working with the Jira as it comes, I can’t see how this works.

Coming from Trello, in my mind, I see a project as typically needing several boards, perhaps for current and backlog, or possibly a board for each active participant. How do people using Business project deal with this? Do all work management Activities go on one board - I assume this must be the case - but what happens if there are hundreds of work items? And how do you get a view of current action items, etc. In other words how does a single board allow efficient management with different views. Especially if there are no swimlanes in Business projects. Is it all about filters, and if so, how is performance when the project gets big (large no of items).

Thanks as always for any help or guidance.

[Nikola Perisic]

Hi @EnEm 

For having more boards is something that software development projects can handle better currently. As the merging is planned, this should also be considered. You should be able to create more than board when the merge of products is complete.

[EnEm]

Thanks. Any experiences of managing a big project with a single board appreciated. How does it work in practice? It seems problematic to me even for a small project but I must be missing something.