How can I use Jira to manage all my own work?

[Mark Drummond]

On a scale of 1 to 10 my Jira-fu is maybe a 3 or 4. I'm not a dev. My work is not dev work. Some of my work is platform engineering. More and more of my work is drifting towards management.

I have tickets assigned to me, across various Jira and JSM projects. The projects vary in type and workflow and allowed ticket statuses.

I also have my own work that is not currently in Jira (notebook + Google's very basic Tasks tool).

I would love to get all my "stuff" in one place. Since Jira is currently a must for me, I want to get all my non-Jira stuff into Jira. And then I want one view of it all. "One Board to rule them all, one Board to find them, etc. etc. ..."

Is this a thing?

[Joe Pitt · Accepted solution]

It depends on your Jira admin.  I did this early on when using Jira. I downloaded the server version to my home PC and created a simple workflow and several issue types. It would probably require a seperate project. The task workflow by be sufficient, but you would almost undoubtedly need a few issue types. It could be other folks my want to do the same thing so the work may server more people.  

[Summer Hogan · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mark Drummond - I totally think you can use Jira for everything if you have the permissions in your Jira instance to do so. I would create a new project as Joe mentions above and start there. I also think you could use Confluence for your  (notebook + Google's very basic Tasks tool) stuff as it integrates seamlessly with Jira. You can link Confluence articles directly to Jira issues to keep track of them. This also might help you for keeping your task list: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/templates/to-do-list. Just my thoughts. 

[Mark Drummond · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the responses everyone. I do have the ability to create my own projects in our Jira environment. I created a project using the "Personal Task Planner" template under Jira Work Management, but I'm not sure if that is the best choice. I've started adding some content to the default board, but need to figure out how I can pull in data from other boards/projects.

[Mark Drummond]

I created project "B" using the "Personal Task Planner" template. This looks very limited ... a single kanban board with minimal configuration, but probably sufficient for what I am trying to do for personal task management.

I have another project "A" which is a full Jira "Software Project". In project "A" I had previously created a kanban board "A1" and was able to pull into that board everything assigned to me no matter the source.

So I updated the configuration of of kanban board "A1" to include the cards from project "B" and I think this pretty much does what I wanted.

[Summer Hogan]

Good to hear @Mark Drummond. If the answers provided to you above were helpful, please consider clicking the "Accept Answer" button(s) as that really helps us out! 

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Mark Drummond 

It's Mary from Planyway for Jira: calendar, timeline, time tracking.

Yes, consolidating all your work into Jira and creating a unified view of your tasks is definitely achievable. Here are some steps and tips to help you integrate your non-Jira tasks into Jira and manage everything from a single dashboard or board:

Step 1: Create a New Project for Your Non-Jira Tasks

• Set Up a Personal Project: Start by creating a new Jira project to house your non-Jira tasks. This can be a simple task management project. Choose a project type that suits your work style, such as a Kanban project for continuous flow or a Scrum project if you prefer working in sprints.

Step 2: Migrate Your Non-Jira Tasks into Jira

• Manually Add Tasks: Initially, you may need to manually enter your tasks from your notebook and Google Tasks into your new Jira project. While this might be time-consuming at first, it’s a one-time effort that pays off by having everything in one place.

• Use Import Tools: For bulk tasks, see if you can export your tasks from Google Tasks and other platforms into a format that Jira can import. Jira supports importing issues from CSV files, which could speed up this process.

Step 3: Configure a Unified View

• Create a Mater Board: In Planyway You can create a multi-project that pulls in issues from multiple Jira projects, including your newly created project for non-Jira tasks and the existing projects you’re part of. It will visualize issues on the calendar or timeline view of your choice.