Managing Boards in Jira [Atlassian University Live Webinar]

[Ben Thoma]

In this Atlassian University Live webinar, we learned about the two types of agile boards in Jira Software, so you can determine the right board type for your team and then customize it to fit your specific requirements.

Together we:

• Dived deep into all the board configurations

• Explored use cases

• Learned pitfalls, caveats, related tricks, and troubleshooting tips

• Answered your questions, live!

This free webinar is intended for scrum and kanban teams, power users and project administrators, and those preparing for a Jira certification exam. Topics are relevant to Jira Cloud, Data Center, and Server.

Watch the recording on demand and use the comments below to ask @Joanna Thurmann and @Ree Kent more questions.

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As part of an ongoing series, Atlassian University offers these free, live webinars to strengthen your Atlassian product skills and give you the chance to learn directly from Atlassian experts.

[Pramodh M]

Thanks @Ben Thoma 

[Vero Rivas]

Hi @Ben Thoma 

   Done, see you on the 18th, thanks

Cheers

[Ryan Hocke]

What’s the benefit of having multiple statuses in one column VS making each column only have one status? The example that was given in the webinar was having an "In process" column with three statuses: Working, Code Review, & Testing. Why not just make those three statuses to be individual columns?

[Ree Kent]

Hi Ryan,

Great question! The main benefit is having fewer columns, allowing for more real estate on the board for cards. The downside to this is that users cannot transition issues within a column.

Many teams prefer to have one status per column so that they can use the board to update statuses. However, this can make for a crowded board if there are more than five statuses to show on the board. 

It really depends on the complexity of the workflow and what works best for the team. The good news is that you can experiment with how columns are set up to find the best fit. 

[Ryan Hocke]

Thanks Marie! That helps :)

[Lu Rossi]

I work with design and build teams and for instance, there is a need for testing. There is user testing & technical testing. They are both testing but very different

[David Wuth]

@Ryan Hocke Another example from our usage: We have a sprint board that pulls issues from across projects, and those projects do not all use the same workflow and statuses. We decided to use more generic column headings to group like statuses. While this does enable us to have a simple view of all work, it does prevent/limit the column transition function as Marie noted.

[Ryan Hocke]

@David Wuth I see. That makes sense, thanks!!

[Benjamin Beach]

Is it possible to have two different Scrum boards in the same Jira project - one with stories and the other with the sub-tasks that belong to those same stories?  Does this create a problem with status of sprints and definition of done?   If you name the sprints the same on both boards, they are still two separate sprints, correct?   Thanks!

[Ree Kent]

Hi Benjamin,

Since a sub-task is in part of a story, it is in the same sprint as the story by default. The definition of done usually applies at the story level and includes closing all sub-tasks. If there is a need to break up a story, to have it completed in separate sprints, you can use the clone or split feature to create additional copies of the story. 

Thanks,
Marie

[Benjamin Beach]

Thanks Marie.   The sub-tasks are on a separate scrum board with different column definitions than the scrum board their parent stories are on.    Which board's definition of done do the sub-tasks follow to determine if the parent story on the other board can be considered done?

[Ree Kent]

From what you have shared, you may only need one board. Typically if a team manages work via sub-tasks, the stories have a simple workflow - To Do, In Progress and Done. Once all the sub-tasks for a story are completed, the story would also be done. If you are using the simplified workflow, you would receive a prompt to close the story when the last sub-task is closed. 

However, the scrum team and scrum master may have more criteria for definition of done, and you may have a more elaborate workflow for stories. I really cannot tell you how to define definition of done as that is up to teams to define. 

Here is an article from Scrum.org that may be helpful. 

https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/done-understanding-definition-done

Thanks,
Marie

[Ryan Hocke]

Do you have any input on best practice for when to "flag" an issue?

[Joanna Thurmann]

@Ryan Hocke It depends on the team. It can be used to denote an important issue in Kanban or an impediment that needs to be addressed by a scrum master for work to continue. When flagged, the issue is more prominent on the board due to the yellow background. Other teams prefer a status like Blocked. Here is a good community post with some thoughts on the topic. https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Agile-questions/What-is-the-best-way-to-deal-with-quot-impediments-quot-in-the/qaq-p/1195579

[Ree Kent]

Hi Ryan,

There are a few uses for this feature. One popular use is to mark that an issue is impeded by another. This is similar to using the blocks/is blocked by links, but the Flag feature adds coloring to the card to make it more visible. 

Also, if you have teams working across Jira projects with interdependencies between issues, you can use the Flag feature to build a Kanban board to view all those issues. This can be used in a Scrum of Scrums to see impeded issues across teams. 

Here is a great community post on this Why flagging Jira issues is so cool 

A best practice is to have a working agreement within and across teams as to what the flag signifies. Also, encourage users to include a comment when they are adding and removing flags. 

Thanks,
Marie

[Nagalaxmi Mavuduru]

Thank you for the trainning it was very helpful!

@Ree Kent @Joanna Thurmann - I am using 'Team' attribute of Jira to separate my teams of the project. I want to use this (i.e Team) field in EazyBI to filter my reports. How can I do as the field is not visible in Dimensions. Team is visible in 'Advanced Roadmaps section but is not working as expected.

Can you please guide.

Regards,

-Laxmi

[Ree Kent]

So sorry Laxmi, we are not experts on all the apps. You might want to reach out to the vendor at https://eazybi.com/contact

 Or, someone in the community may be able to help. 

Thank you,

Marie

[Roberts Čāčus]

Hi @Nagalaxmi Mavuduru ,

I am Roberts from eazyBI support. As Marie already mentioned, you can reach out to us for more details at support@eazybi.com.

Regarding Advanced Roadmaps for Jira custom fields, please see the import options "Add-ons" tab and see if the "Team" field is selected for import as a dimension.

After import, it will be available in Analyze as a dimension under "Dimensions" and the "Advanced roadmaps custom fields" section.

See the eazyBI documentation page regarding Advanced roadmaps integration - https://docs.eazybi.com/eazybi/data-import/data-from-jira-apps/advanced-roadmaps-custom-fields.

Best,

Roberts // support@eazybi.com

[carlos_marin]

Hi,

Apart of the recording of the session, could you share the slides used during the session?

Best regards,

[Joanna Thurmann]

@carlos_marin The slides used during the webinar are a subset of the slides found in the skill builder course Managing Agile Boards and Reports.  You can enroll in the course for free. Then go to the Resources area and download the Student Guide pdf. The slides we covered are in that PDF. Happy learning!

[David Wuth]

Do any Atlassians know when the feature to enable edit of filters by more than the owner will be available? That is a key need when you have more than one person managing a board.

ref: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-17783

[Ree Kent]

Hi @David Wuth , Per today's Cloud blog, this is in the process of rolling out. 

https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloud/blog/2022/01/atlassian-cloud-changes-jan-17-to-jan-24-2022

Filters: Collaborate easier with edit permissions

No more copying and recreating filters just to collaborate. A filter's owner can give anyone on the team permission to edit it. To try it out, go to your filter and select Details > Edit permissions.

[David Wuth]

This is GREAT news!!!!

[Roly]

Thanks a lot

[Marjorie]

Thanks for the info on Managing Agile Boards and Reports: Skillbuilder Course Description : Atlassian.  Just sent it to my team!