What Type of Jira Workflow Transition is Best?

[#1]

Well, it's Jira so of course, the answer is, It Depends!

And to be honest, some of the explanation has to do with personality as much as functionality. Some people like definitive paths, others are more free form and like the flexibility. 

So, what are we really talking about here? We are talking about the movement of issues or work items in Jira through the workflow or across the board, if you like. These steps in the workflows and columns on a Jira board relate to Statuses in the workflow. And Statuses are mapped to columns on a board. 

Linear Flows

One approach is very linear - one step must be completed before going to the next step. And only the very next step can be moved to, not others. Sometimes you get the option of moving to maybe 2 statuses, or even 3 or 4! But rarely backwards, and rarely straight to Done. We see this type of workflow a lot when Approvals are required. 

In this graphic for the out of the box Contract review workflow under the Legal Jira Service Management template, we see more rigid steps. By the way, it is the lines between Statuses in a workflow that are referred to as Transitions. You "transition" from one status to the next, one step to the next, one column to the next - however you would like to phrase it. 

So, going from the To Do status, it is ONLY possible to go to the In Review By Legal status as shown by the number 1 transition in the image. You may not go to Resolved/Approved or even to Cancelled until Legal has reviewed the request.

Once in the hands of those doing the legal review, it might move in one of 4 directions as seen by numbers 2 -5 in the image. Step-by-step you move through the process. 

Global Transitions

Those who love the liner process (like me) get freaked out by seeing a workflow of all Global transitions.

In this image of the out of the box Web design process, we see a free flow workflow using global transitions. The global transitions are designated by the world ALL attached to the transition, which does not directly go to any other status. 

What this provides for (absent of any Conditions on the transitions) is the movement of an issue or work item from any Status to any other Status regardless of how the Columns are structured on a board. 

This process has its place, especially for work that needs to move back and forth often between the same statuses. Or if there are many Optional steps that can be skipped over in certain cases. 

Bottom Line

The bottom line is us what works best for your Team for this Jira Project. There's not a single right way, but most importantly what your team is most comfortable with. After all, they are the ones moving the tickets!

Special thanks to @Matt Doar for the topic suggestion. I bet he has an opinion!

So, if you were designing the perfect workflow (and I know you are!!), what would it most be? Linear or Global? Add your comments below!

[Yatish Madhav]

Great article @John Funk  - and you could not have started it with "... it depends" better in any other way :D

I feel that these 2 come from 2 mindsets and cultures within businesses. We have had the former, more controlled flow in the past and after we were acquired, it slowly but not entirely moved towards the latter free form flow, due to a few things like people frustrated at the restrictions, users wanting more control because of not have administrative rights on workflows, general easy of use, etc.

The perfect workflow? I'd say the default - To Do > In Progress > Done. And that in a loop form. Yeah, it is simple and naive but I'd say at the core of all workflows, it gets the job done. 

I also only over the last year realised that the status Category grouping also helps but over all - having 100s of status, it makes managing it all, tricky in all aspects of the business (because like you say, "After all, they are the ones moving the tickets!" and "they" are multiple people with multiple ways of doing things and seeing how things should work)

Thanks for this post to you and Matt for the suggestion!