Your Go-To Jira Glossary
Sometimes, the lingo can be the steepest part of the learning curve when getting started with Jira (and the Agile methodology). Below, we have compiled a list of some of the basic (and more obscure) terms associated with Jira. Did we miss any? Add your own terms and definitions in the comments below!
Backlog – A backlog is a list of the outstanding user stories, bugs and features for a product or sprint.
Board – The tool that teams use to visualize units of work moving through their specific workflow. It can be adapted for different styles of agile development (e.g. a Scrum board shows work items moving from the product backlog to the sprint backlog whereas a Kanban board typically has a three-step workflow: To Do, In Progress, and Done).
Burndown Chart – A Burndown Chart shows the actual and estimated amount of work to be done in a sprint.
Control Chart – A Control Chart can show the cycle time or lead time for your product, version or sprint.
Cycle Time – Cycle time is the time spent working on an issue – typically, the time taken from when work begins on an issue to when work is completed, but also includes any other time spent working on the issue. For example, if an issue is reopened, worked on, and completed again, then the time for this extra work is added to the cycle time.
Daily stand-up – Also known as a daily scrum, a 15-minute mini-meeting for the software team to sync.
Epic – An epic captures a large body of work that needs to be broken down into a number of smaller stories. It may take several sprints to complete an epic. The hierarchy for units of work in Jira Software is as follows: Project > Epics/Components > Stories > Tasks > Subtasks
Filter – Filters determine what is visible on each of your boards. Using Jira's simple query builder (JQL), you can customize exactly which issues are displayed on your board.
Issue – An issue is simply a unit of work within Jira that will be traced through a workflow, from creation to completion. It can range from representing a single unit of work, like a simple task or bug, to a larger parent work item to be tracked, like a story or an epic.
Kanban – Kanban is a system for visualizing the flow of work and limiting work in progress. Kanban is not oriented towards sprints, like Scrum development methodology, as it is more ongoing.
Scrum – Scrum is an Agile development methodology where the product is built in a series of fixed-length iterations called sprints. It gives teams a framework for shipping software on a regular cadence.
Scrum of Scrums – Scrum of Scrums is a means of scaling Scrum to large, multi-team projects. Scrum of Scrums is the Agile version of what is traditionally known as program management.
Sprint – A sprint — also known as an iteration — is a short (ideally two to four week) period in which the development team implements and delivers a discrete product increment, e.g. a working milestone version.
Sprint planning – A team planning meeting that determines what to complete in the coming sprint.
Sprint retrospective – A review of what did and didn't go well with actions to make the next sprint better.
Story – A story or user story is a software system requirement that is expressed in a few short sentences, ideally using non-technical language.
Story Point – A story point is an estimate of the relative complexity of a story.
Swimlane – A swimlane is a means of categorizing issues so that agile teams can see which issues they should work on next.
Sub-Task – A sub-task can be a "child" of any issue type, depending on the Issue Type Scheme of the project.
Task - A task is another out-of-the-box issue type in Jira.
Velocity – The velocity of a team is a measure of how much work that the team can handle within a specific time period, i.e. how much of the product backlog can be completed by the team in a sprint. Velocity can be calculated on the basis of story points, business value, hours, issue count, or any numeric field of your choice.
Workflow – Workflow is the logic that drives movement of a stories / sub-task along their development journey on a scrum or kanban board.
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Katie Bilotti
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