Getting started with next-gen projects

[#1]

If you use Jira Software Cloud, check out this article to learn about creating a next-gen Scrum or Kanban project.

Next-gen projects is agile as you know it, and aims to combine the power of Jira with the simplicity you expect. It enables teams to start clean, with a simple un-opinionated way of working, and is poised to progressively add more structure to the way your team works, as and when you need it.

The way we’re approaching the new next-gen experience mirrors this philosophy - we started with a clean slate and we are rebuilding Jira front to back, and progressively disclosing the power to you.

Next-gen will eventually satisfy all the needs that classic projects satisfy today, and more.

If you haven't signed up for Jira Software Cloud yet, start your free trial here.

Create a next-gen project

1. Click the Jira home icon in the top left corner (or).

   

2. Select Projects

3. In the top-right corner, select Create project > Try a next-gen project.

   

4. Either Scrum or Kanban will already be selected. If you want, select Change template to see the full list of next-gen project templates.

   

5. On the next-gen templates screen, select either Scrum or Kanban. Don’t worry, you won’t be locked into your choice because you can easily customize your project later.

Get to know your new project

1. Add people: Add team members to your project at the click of a button, so you can quickly start collaborating.

2. Add columns: Configure your board by creating and rearranging columns with just a few clicks.

3. Create issues: Add issues to any column without ever leaving your board.

4. Project settings: Configure issue types, fields, and enable and disable features.

Enable and disable features

The best part about next-gen Jira Software projects is the ability to enable and disable features, allowing you to scale your project as your team grows, and tailor your project to your team’s changing needs. For example, if you’re a small team that only needs a board, you can turn off Sprints and Backlog. Or if you’re a growing team that needs more power, you can turn on Estimations and Reports.

 

To enable and disable features:

1. Navigate to your next-gen project.

2. Select Project settings in the project menu on the left.

    

3. Select Features.

We’ll be adding more features in the future, so keep an eye out!

Learn more

Like what you see? Dive into more advanced features available in next-gen projects:

• Need to track different types of work? Learn more about setting up custom issue types and custom fields at Managing next-gen projects.

• Want to add some guardrails for the team? Learn about setting up lightweight workflow rules for your board at Add rules to your next-gen board.

• Thinking about epics? Learn more about Roadmaps, a brand new feature built into next-gen projects at Working with epics in next-gen projects.

• Wondering about the differences between classic and next-gen projects? See Classic and next gen project templates in Jira Software Cloud to learn more.

• Would like to know a lot more about next-gen? Watch the new Jira begins now.

• Interested in what's coming next? Please visit the public roadmap.

• And for everything else, check out our documentation.

[Kolitha de Silva]

Is there a way to migrate existing projects to this new template?

[Dominik Flejter]

I do not see the "Try next gen..." under "Create project" button. Do I need to turn this feature somehow on?

[Dylan Ryan]

@Kolitha de Silva https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Next-gen-articles/Next-gen-projects-the-new-project-experience-in-Jira-Software/ba-p/814932#M25

[junaid]

I am not seeing the "Try next gen..." under "Create project" button. Do I need to turn this feature on somehow ?

[Kolitha de Silva]

@junaid @Dominik Flejter I found it in templates, not under "Create projects" (I use Safari). 

[junaid]

@Kolitha de Silva

They are classic projects, not next gen.

I created one, but i can see new features like roadmap.

[Kolitha de Silva]

@Junaid Khalid This is what I did and I can see roadmap and new features

Projects -> new project -> change template -> select new "Agility" template. Its the purple color template in the list. 

[Darren Clark]

The roadmaps looks great...   Is there a way to create roadmaps from the other agile boards?

[Josh Frank]

@Darren Clark, We're glad you're liking the new roadmaps feature. Right now the only way create a roadmap is from our next-gen projects. 

[Elizabeth Gallardo]

I don't see the option "try next-gen project" in Create Project :(

[Dominik Flejter]

@Kolitha de Silva Indeed it works, but it does not let me create next gen Kanban nor Scrum project ...

[Didac Busquets]

I've been able to create stories and tasks within epics by using the Add child issue, but how do I assign an epic to a story or task I created in the backlog? Or how do I change epic of an issue? The left pane with Epics is not there now. 

[Julien Femia]

Hi @Didac Busquets!

You can read everything about working with epics in next-gen projects here.

To add stories to an epic on the board or backlog:

1. Navigate to either the board or backlog
2. Hover over the issue you want to add to an epic and select more (•••).
3. Select Add to epic.

We're currently working on adding the option to do this from the issue view itself. Stay tuned!

[Julien Femia]

@Kolitha de Silva There is no migration mechanism just yet but you can always move all your issues from one project to the other using the bulk operation.

Here's our official documentation.

This bulk operation allows you to move multiple issues at the same time. The issues you're moving need to be mapped to both a project and an issue type, and in doing this, you may need to also map the status and fields of the issues. Subtasks need to be mapped, too.

1. Perform a search with the required filters to produce a list of issues.
2. Click more (•••) > Bulk Change all <n> issues.

3. Select the issues you'd like to perform the bulk operation on, and click Next.

4. Select Move Issues, and click Next.

5. Enter the requested information for the issues you're moving. 

6. Review all the changes and click Confirm. 

We’ve made setting up a next-gen project super easy so what you can do is create a next-gen project, configure it and then bulk move issues from an existing Classic project and into your new next-gen project. I’d recommend only doing this as and when your team is ready to make the move, so perhaps try our a fresh project before doing a bulk move.

Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help :)

[Jason Wong]

@Kolitha de Silva, @Dominik Flejter, @junaid, @Elizabeth Gallardo

What you are seeing is the template under its former beta name “agility”. If you go in and create an agility project, that’s the new project experience. There will be no difference to what you get with next-gen project templates other than the name and what’s enabled or disabled initially in project settings.

The new project experience is designed to be completely flexible so you are not locked into any particular template’s initial settings. A simple example is perhaps to go to Project settings -> Features, and you’ll see what I mean. You’ll see a bunch of toggles to easily to enable/disable sprints, estimation, backlogs etc in just a single click. This lets you move flexibly between kanban or scrum, or mix and match to your specific needs.

The reason you are seeing a difference to my screenshots in the article is that your Jira site happens to be at the tail of our rollout to the new template names and project create flows, but those updates will be catching up and rolling out to your Jira site shortly.

[George Brand]

No reports to speak of - only two and you have to run sprints?

[Jason Wong]

Hi @George Brand 

At this stage we've only enabled the essentials for scrum - sprint burnup and velocity - but I can assure you that we won't stop at that and that there will be more reports coming.

To give you an idea of what we're thinking for those not running sprints, based on a lot of customer feedback and interviews, many would like to see cycle times (something like our Control chart on Classic projects). Please write back if you have other reports in mind.

[Elijah Lofgren]

Is there an easy way to attach an existing Story to an Epic if I manually created the story from the Backlog view? 

Edit: Answer, found the way. Select the issue. Click the "..." button on the right and click "Add to Epic". :)

[Kirk Mower]

The 'Next Gen Project' option in the dropdown is simply not there - no dropdown just a single click button. Is that because it hasn't yet propagated to all instances? Come on guys, you need to get on the same page with your releases. If the rest of us did a release like this we would be caned. Is a $242mil loss just too small or something? Pick up your game. You may think you are too big to fail now ... ah, but look, here comes Microsoft.

[Jason Wong]

Updated - The rollout is complete to 100% of all Jira Cloud sites. You should be able to see the next-gen template and all the project create flows as per the screenshots in the article above.

Thanks for posting here to let us know about the issue and apologies for the confusion!

Keen to hear how you go with trying out next-gen projects.

[Jason Wong]

@Kirk Mower No excuses from me here, the timing should have been better. We'll pick this up in a retro and improve on this moving forward, that I can promise.

Again apologies for the confusion and delay in it reaching your site. Are you able to see it now? 

[patrickt010]

@Elijah Lofgren You can also select multiple stories and add them to an epic using the same '...' menu. 

@Kirk Mower thanks for sharing your feedback with us, you can now create a next-gen project. Let us know what you think of it! 

[Didac Busquets]

How do I add time tracking (especially for time estimation) to the next-gen issues?

[Peer Eland]

Hi

Any thoughts when and if this will come to the On-premis version

best

Peer

[Josh Frank]

@Peer Eland we're happy to hear you're interested in the new Jira Cloud experience. The Server team is investigating & learning from customer feedback at the moment to balance which elements would be most valuable in addition to performance, administrative control, & team productivity!

@Didac Time tracking is not available yet although we're really just getting started with the next gen projects and there's a lot more coming soon to them. Although I can't comment on when I know time tracking is high up on the list of features to add.