Two ways we’re simplifying how to create projects in Jira

[#1]

Hi there, Jira community. I’m Bree, a Product Manger who looks over Jira Software. Firstly, I hope everyone is keeping safe wherever you are in the world right now.

I’m writing today to share two changes rolling out to Jira in the next few weeks. I want to dig into what’s changing, why we’ve invested in these updates, and how we believe they’ll make working in Jira easier for you. We know change of any kind is, at best, an adjustment. So my goal is to be as transparent as possible so you are ready for rollout at the end of the month.

Start your next project in the Jira template library

Soon, when you create your next project in Jira, you will do so from a new template library, where you can browse a variety of different templates across all the Jira products you own (Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Jira Core). This update is all about getting you started successfully in your next Jira project; nothing is fundamentally changing within the templates themselves. In the template library, you’ll find information and best practices about each template to help you select the optimal template for your next project, the first time. Our goal is to eliminate the frustrating scenario where you get started in one template and later realize you need to start over in a template better suited to your needs.

Next-gen and classic are now team-managed and company-managed

I am a Product Manager and worked hard on the launch of next-gen in October 2018. But since that time, we’ve been hearing that the name “next-gen” was confusing. We’ve taken this on board and we’re now renaming next-gen and classic in way that is much more clear and descriptive of the project type. I am excited to share the new names with you:

• Next-gen projects will be named team-managed projects. The functionality itself remains the same and will continue to be ideal for independent teams who want to control their own working processes and practices in a self-contained space.

• Classic projects will be named company-managed projects. Setup and maintained by Jira admins, company-managed projects will remain the best choice for teams who want to work with other teams across many projects in a standard way, such as sharing a workflow.

We have carefully (some might say excruciatingly so) chosen names that are descriptive and grounded in our long-term vision for Jira: we are working toward a world where the only fundamental difference between team-managed and company-managed projects will be how they are administered.

What’s next: more investment in both team-managed and company-managed projects

We recognize there is value in both project types and see customers achieve great success in both, and will continue to innovate and ship new features to both team-managed and company-managed project types. And, as Jira continues to grow and innovate, watch for new templates being added across all types of departments and teams. Change is an adjustment, but we hope you’ll be excited about what these updates mean for the future of Jira: a robust library with out-of-the-box use templates for every type of team and project. I can’t wait for what is to come and above all else, I look forward to listening to your feedback along the way.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts below!

[Jack Brickey]

Hi Bree, tanks for sharing. I can see my new TLAs for the Community already forming - CMP and TMP. 😉

[Dave Liao]

@Bree Davies - looking forward to to the time where team-vs-centralized management is the essential difference between the two types of projects. A future where I can toggle on/off certain features in a company-managed project will help simplify the end-user experience.

Updated my comment to state "company-managed" as the project type where I'd love a feature toggle ;p

@Jack Brickey - I'm looking forward to updating my support docs to state TMP instead of NG... and I almost wrote "TMP" to Bree just now. Unless you think we should start something with these new TLAs? 😉

[Jimmy Seddon]

Thank you @Bree Davies!

This is such a small change but it will go a long way in reducing confusion.  Especially for people that are new to the product and a bad first experience can may all the difference.

[Bree Davies]

Thanks very much for the support! @Jack Brickey @Dave Liao @Jimmy Seddon

[Deepanshu Natani]

Thanks for sharing this update @Bree Davies 

[Mohamed Benziane]

Thank you for the update @Bree Davies 

[Mykenna Cepek]

Will we be able to create our own templates?

[Krishna]

@Bree Davies Thank you for sharing this update!

[Alex Reizer]

I don't envy anyone with this update. You should make this abundantly clear it's impossible to migrate from one type to the other right now, and that scaling from "Team-Managed" to "Company-Managed" is impossible.

[Jack Brickey]

@Alex Reizer , i would not say it is impossible as it is not(migrate-from-NG-project-to-a-classic-project) . It isn't easy and agree there should be a "things to consider when choosing" guidebook.

[Balaji Ravichandran]

Thank you for this update @Bree Davies 

[Alex Reizer]

@Jack Brickey I see, this didn't exist before, and it's a mess, as it is in the link above, I think you'll agree.

I would say - avoid NG/Team-Managed for now, there's nothing (roadmap was the biggest attraction) that's better than classic, and if you wish to migrate, you lose a lot of info.

I was hoping for something more, from the Next-Gen name, but it seems Jira is regretting this decision. Perhaps it's the wise course, perhaps not.  e.g. Next-Gen is still missing working with parallel sprints, etc.  So, I would recommend - don't touch it. Use Classic, it's more powerful, more mature, and clearly Jira won't move away from it, as it intended originally (judging from Next Gen name). 

[Jack Brickey]

@Mykenna Cepek , i didn't read that here. you can create a classic 'template' project and use it when creating a new classic project.

there is this issue for NG.....errr TMP - JSWCLOUD-17982 

and this issue for Classic....errr CMP - JSWCLOUD-6790 

[Jack Brickey]

@Alex Reizer while I'm not a big user of TMP, I will say it has improved greatly since inception and I do believe they have their place. I see them being very good for business projects especially where they have a beginning and an end. Example, we have a project to migrate from one tool to another. It likely will take us 6-12 months. It is a cross-functional project that will touch other projects that are classic. From a PM perspective they will be able to easily stand up a project and track the teams progress to completion.  I also think there are some good use cases for some SW groups as well. However, I still feel that the longer you are on a TMP the more likely you are to hit the ceiling and want/need flexibility that does not exist. I think if I hit the point of "I can't get there from here" then I would simply start a brand new CMP project and only move over the issues that I needed to then archive the old TMP.

[Mykenna Cepek]

@Jack Brickey Yes, we use that "classic project as-a-template" approach today. It's inadequate on many levels. It would be easy for me to say too much about this, and sound too negative.

Instead, let me return to the question I asked:

Will we be able to create our own templates?

[Marcos Milanesio]

@Bree Davies Great!!! I think it would be good to start thinking about a third type of project:

"company managed-process" 😏😀

Business process automation is began! 

Regards,

[PC]

"frustrating scenario where you get started in one template and later realize you need to start over in a template better suited to your needs" 

So is it possible to change template rather starting over??

[Vicki Ivancevic]

In the past, we've been able to be put on the schedule in a specific wave to obtain a large-scale update like this to avoid a big change in the middle of a large project.  Can we do the same with this change?  I would prefer to be able to communicate that this change will be coming to our users on a specific day instead of "sometime soon".  Thank you!

[Bree Davies]

Hi @Mykenna Cepek this is definitely the direction that we're headed. Right now you can re-use an existing project configuration, and we'd love to improve on that experience in the future. 

[Bree Davies]

@PC - right now it won't be possible to 'change' the template (although there are some minor caveats in that statement!). With this new template selection experience, we are aiming to help guide you towards starting with the right template based on your team's needs, and hopefully minimise the need to switch later. 

[Bree Davies]

@Alex Reizer - Thanks for your honest thoughts and feedback! These are some of the key expectations we will be setting very clearly in the new template selection experience, as we've taken on board this feedback. It was a lot of the motivation for the new labels! For teams who need the more advanced capabilities and ability to share configurations, company-managed projects are the way to go. For teams who work more autonomously, team-managed projects might fit the bill. We're continuing to invest in each project type, including adding more 'power' to team-managed projects. We've definitely learned that both have their place 

[Bree Davies]

@Vicki Ivancevic - our plan is to start rolling this out at the end of March. I definitely want to stress though that the functionality of your existing Jira projects, regardless of if they are company-managed or team-managed, is not changing with this update. Please let me know if there is any more info I can provide which will ease this transition for you. 

[AA_PH]

@Bree Davies thank you for the update. All the way from MANILA, PHILIPPINES, we're excited for these updates.

[Ronnie Landqvist]

Really good improvements! Thank you! 👍

[Ahmet Kilic]

More clear naming :) Thank you for your sharing @Bree Davies!