To Jira or not to Jira. Most of us don’t really have a choice. You join an organization that heavily depends on Jira, everyone is using it, and it’s part of your job to actually get the hang of it. Some might love it, some might not like it that much, and some are just forced to get used to it. However, don’t panic; Jira has some cool integrations with other apps and lots of customization options. Here at Whiteboards, we can actually make your life easier by visualizing your Jira projects on a digital board.
Granted, Jira UI probably needs a major facelift, but there is a lot you can do with your Jira projects outside of the classic project interface. We’ll show you how, but first, let’s go back to basics and find out what Jira exactly is and how to create your first Jira project!
What is Jira?
Jira is a project management and issue-tracking tool used by a variety of organizations. It was developed by an Australian company Atlassian, and if you’re an aspiring software developer there is a big chance you’ll be working with Jira throughout your career. Jira software is quite popular with Agile teams that want to track epics, stories, bugs, and various tasks.
Jira’s name comes from ‘Gojira’, which translates into ‘Godzilla’ in Japanese. The idea came from a different issue-tracking tool called ‘Bugzilla’ that Atlassian software engineers were using before developing Jira.
The bottom line is, no matter if your team works in Agile or not, Jira can be a useful project management tool, provided everyone can harness its power. Use this project management tool for issue tracking, customizable workflows, email notifications, project-level permissions, or roadmaps. The list doesn’t stop there.
One piece of advice — don’t go crazy with the customization options as this can easily get out of hand, especially at the beginning; start simple.
Which Jira Project Type to Choose: Team Managed Project or Company Managed Project?
In Jira, we have two types of projects: team-managed projects and company-managed projects. Bear in mind that company-managed projects can only be created by Jira admins. Team-managed projects can be created by any user, non-admins included.
The recommended project type in Jira would be the company-managed project because it gives you access to all of the available Jira features. With team-managed projects, you can only create basic roadmaps, and you’re not able to create custom filters for example.
Create company-managed projects to fine-tune permissions on an issue level within a specific project. With team-managed projects you can only set permissions at the project level — you can either make it private and only accessible to the project’s team members or make it public to the whole organization.
One warning from Atlassian — if you need to switch project types at a later stage, you will need to create a new one; there is no way of going from an already existing team-managed project to a company-managed one, with a simple click. Make sure you’re picking the right project from the start.
How to Create a New Jira Project?
You can easily create a project in Jira, in less than 10 minutes. Let’s follow the steps:
Step 1: Go to your Jira account
Select Projects and click Create Project straight from the main navigation.
Step 2: Pick the right Jira project template
If you work in software development, you’ll most probably pick the Scrum or Kanban board template. In case you work in service management, marketing, or even HR, there are a bunch of different project templates you can choose from. You can learn more about project templates by simply selecting them.
Step 3: Use the template
If you are happy with the selected template, click Use template.
Step 4: Choose a project type
As we discussed before, you have the option to choose either a company-managed or team-managed project. If you can, go with the company-managed project as you will have a lot more options to play with and the liberty to assign specific permissions at the issue level within the same project.
Step 5: Choose the project name
At this stage, you can still change the project type or template if needed. After you click Create, this option will no longer be available, and you will need to migrate the content of your current project to a new one. Make sure you are happy with the selected options.
Give your new project a name and adjust the project key prefix if you’d like. It will help you identify issues at a glance.
Step 6: Create a Jira project!
There you have it, your brand new Jira project is created. Now you can share it with your team!
How to Create a Project with the Same Configuration Settings as Another Jira Project?
There is a shortcut for creating a new Jira project. Everyone loves shortcuts, right? It comes with some limitations though so we need to be cautious.
Let’s say we already have a project that has some cool configuration settings that we want to carry over to our new project. Jira projects that share the same configuration have the same issue types, workflows, screens, fields, permissions, and notifications. Only limitation? If we change the shared configuration settings at any point, all of the projects that share the same settings will be affected.
In order to use this shortcut, simply follow all the steps detailed above and stop at step number 5.
Choose the Name of your Project, Share Settings with an Existing Project, and Click ‘Create Project’
Apart from choosing the name and adjusting the key prefix, tick the box that says Share settings with an existing project and choose the project that has those cool settings you want to carry over. One thing to remember, your project settings will be copied over, but not your boards. You will need to migrate them or create them from scratch. You can only choose to share settings with an existing project if you’re using a paid version of Jira — it will not work on the free plan, plus you need to be a member of the original project.
Adding Users & Assigning Roles in Jira
Once your Jira Project is ready, you’d probably like to add your team members and assign them specific roles. Here’s how it’s done.
- Click on Project settings
- Click Access on the left-hand menu
- Click on Add people
- Assign specific roles to each team member
Choose between Administrator, Member, or Viewer. Administrators can do pretty much everything, like change the settings or add another admin. Members can add, edit, and collaborate on work items, whereas Viewers can only do a quick search, view, and comment.
How to Visualize Your Jira Project on a Digital Whiteboard?
Now that your Jira Project is ready you’re probably thinking you can only manage it inside the Jira jungle of ‘never-ending tickets.’ Not quite right.
Our Whiteboards app can help you visualize your project, show you dependencies between issues, change assignees, and much more. You can manage your Jira projects directly on the virtual whiteboard, you don’t even have to leave the app to update your tasks. Plan the next Sprint, assign the tickets directly to your teammates, import Jira issues in bulk, or create specific update zones and update all your Jira tasks in one go.
Whiteboards view of your Jira project
In Whiteboards, you’re able to visualize the whole workflow, show dependencies between issues, create issue tables, and manage your Jira projects without leaving the app. Import your Jira issues in bulk, allocate them to correct Sprints, and estimate them straight in the app. It all syncs automatically with Jira!
You can also upload files, images, and gifs, draw diagrams, embed iframes, or add comments. Make your Jira projects visual and fun, they will be much easier to handle. Our Whiteboards app is especially geared towards product and software development teams. Did you know that we also have a deep two-way integration with GitHub?
It’s been scientifically proven that our brains work better with images than with pure text. By making your Jira board visual, your brain will require less effort to absorb and analyze the information. You will be able to look at your project from a bird’s eye view — noticing the dependencies, blockers, and progress.
If you’d like to know more about our Whiteboards app, check our post explaining what Whiteboards is and why you should test it with your Agile team.
Jira-powered Templates on Whiteboards
Whiteboards have this magical two-way Jira integration, which means that any work item on your Whiteboards gets automatically synced with Jira. You can say goodbye to manually transferring tickets to Jira from your online board.
Our product is meant for product and software teams, and we know that these teams most often than not work with Jira. We’ve designed a couple of Jira-powered templates that you can test with your team. Here’s a selection of our most popular templates that will help you visualize your Jira projects!
Visualize the steps & interactions your users go through to complete specific actions in the product.
Start your retrospective session with a bang. Warm the team up with engaging activities and assign pluses and deltas to the activities from the previous Sprint.
Collaborate with multiple Agile teams on one whiteboard. Spot any cross-team dependencies, plan the roadmap, collaborate on new solutions, and plan ahead.
There it is!
Creating a project in Jira is only the first step in achieving your goals. Tools are there to help you achieve what you planned and create amazing products with your team; however, make it work for you. Remember, there are loads of apps integrated with Jira (Whiteboards included) that smooth the overall process and make your work easier.
Once your project is live, issues in your backlog will start to pile up fast. When it gets too overwhelming, transfer your tickets to Whiteboards. Make it visual; use colors, graphics, stickies, and videos to bring your Jira project to life! With infinite space, you can finally keep everything in one place and manage your Jira project on a virtual board. Ready to give it a try?
