Should projects be client based or task type based?

[Sean Clark]

We are moving over from Basecamp where we have traditionally managed projects based on the client with the various tasks in each client project. There are no workflows in Basecamp, it is fairly uncomplicated.

Moving to Jira now offers us the opportunity to have projects based on the type of task. And for those tasks to have their own workflow. We've identified 5 potentially different workflows without getting too granular.

So an "account audit" would have a different workflow from an "ad campaign setup" allowing for different screens and transition rules.

If we have client based projects all tasks need to use the same workflow if we want to see the board. Seeing examples of these they tend not to have strict transitions but allow for issues to be moved anywhere in the workflow.

Any advise on this would be useful. Thanks

[Petter Gonçalves · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sean Clark

Thank you for reaching out.

Per your description, I believe you are asking for suggestions on how to set your Jira projects (Per task type or client) to properly organize your workflow, allowing you to customize it based on each issue type. 

Please, allow me to bring up some concepts so we can better confirm we are on the same page:

About this statement:

If we have client based projects all tasks need to use the same workflow if we want to see the board.

Actually, you can configure multiple workflows and still display all issue types in your boards, optionally creating a new board for each issue type or adding all issue types in the same board and configuring their statuses in separated columns.

That being said, considering the scenario you provided where you have different departments working for each task type, my suggestion would be to:

1 - Configure a single project per client

2 - In each project, configure a single workflow for each issue/task type, customizing them as you need

3 - Create a new JQL filter to return the issues of each specific task type, like:

issuetype = "ad campaign setup"

4 - Configure a single board (All allocated on the respective project) for each filter you created, so each department will have their own personalized view for their type of tasks

Let us know if that makes sense. If you have any blockers that would make the steps above not the most efficient for your scenario, please let us know.

[Sean Clark]

@Petter Gonçalves I'm really grateful for your reply.

So I'll give this a try and let you know if I get stuck.

[Petter Gonçalves]

You are welcome, Sean. :)

[Sean Clark]

@Petter Gonçalves I have tried this and must admit have got severely lost. I created 2 issue types with different workflows, but couldn't get them to apply to a project correctly.

Schemes is adding to the confusion in both types and workflows.

Is there a step by step guide from the creation of issue types, assigning workflows and then applying a project?

The actual creation of these elements and associated help files are fine, but it is when coming to put them together it is falling over.

Thanks

[Sean Clark]

@Petter Gonçalves Thought these screenshots may clarify. As you can see different issue types with different workflows but no boards.