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Two JIRA Boards for One Project with One Seamless Workflow

I am setting up a project using JIRA Agile for my team. I am using Scrum methodology.

Our team is split into two groups. Those requesting the work, and those doing the work. I ideally like to have two boards for our team. One board would be a Sprint board, where the people doing the work have a few columns to drag issues between; however, the last column would be called something like Done (Internal).

This column would be tied to a status that the second board would then pick up and show in its first column. The second board would represent a separate flow, where those requesting the work can log in, select this second board, and see the issues that are completed by the people doing the work. They could then drag items on that board around as they see fit, to mark items as truly complete based on their approval.

The reason I want two boards is:

  • The first board is for sprints, and it could take the requesters longer than a sprint duration to actually approve the items, but I'd like to get them off the sprint board ASAP when we're done working on them.
  • The second board provides a one stop shop without clutter for those making the requests. They can simply log in, select their board, and only see items relevant to them that are ready for review.

Any pointers or example workflows that have this setup would be much appreciated.

Solution

  • Trying to create two boards is most likely the wrong way to go about this. A seamless workflow and issue navigation filters are the way to go.

    Develop your Workflow
    Develop a solid workflow (outside of Jira if you're unsure of how to do this). This is the most difficult piece involved.

    • Pay special attention to the transition names you want to use to get to and from one status to another. These transition names will be the language used on the buttons inside the issues to move the record through the process. A key element to not confuse your users.

    Implement the workflow
    Technically this isn't super easy but as long as you have a solid workflow planned out it's a relatively easy task once you figure out the interface.
    https://confluence.atlassian.com/jira/configuring-workflow-185729632.html

    You could stop here...
    The workflow is the key to the process. It will marshal your records through the various people and roles you need it to. A completed record will come out at the end if your users pay attention to their emails. This will most likely not work very well when there are hundred or thousands of emails hitting inboxes around the organization. A solution to monitor various steps along the way is needed.

    Issue Navigation Filters
    For each step along the way you want people to monitor you should create a filter and share it with the individuals that need them. They can create dashboards to monitor these filter results or just use these filters manually to keep abreast of the work at hand.
    https://confluence.atlassian.com/jira/using-filters-185729481.html

    Active Sprint Board with "Drag-n-Drop" functionality
    I'm sure this is why you would like two separate boards so each group can have their own active sprint board.

    This is not possible...

    ...but you could customize the board workflow to encompass the entire process, granted the interface is limited horizontally by screen real estate. If you have too many steps to marshal the records through you will have very skinny columns that are tough to read. I can point you in the direction regarding customizing the sprint board but my recommendation is to keep the sprint board for the "doers" not for the creators.

    Simple instructions
    https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/AGILE/Configuring+Columns
    Detailed step-by-step instructions
    https://university.atlassian.com/uac/2.0/courses/end-user/jira-agile/v60/scrum/create-and-configure-a-scrum-board