Worst Jira Admin Contest: A Hundred Issue Types

[#1]

Mistake 3

How many different issue types and combinations of issue types could one organization possibly need? One company had 134 issue types and many unnecessary issue type schemes! This was not because the different types were actually needed, but because new types and schemes were created for every new project.

I’m guilty of perpetuating the problem. When I created my first Jira project, I followed this flawed model and instead of leveraging existing issue types like “Feature”, “Bug”, and “Task”, I created more custom options like “Technology Feature”, “Technology Bug” and “Technology Task.” 😞

Jira projects using the default issue type scheme had all 134 selections, including dupes like “Task” and “Technology Task”. Reporters in those projects were overwhelmed when creating new issues. They had to wade through all the available selections and try to select something that made sense. The choices weren't even listed alphabetically! 

Project leads had little insight into the issues their teams were addressing. It was impossible to properly report on or segment information with so many similar issue types.

Instead, avoid creating too many custom issue types and give each Jira project a specific scheme. Let that default issue type scheme hang out, unassigned, in the background.

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[Amanda Barber]

Great tip!