Jira Tutorial - A Beginner's Guide

Oscar Barillas -

In this post, I’ll walk you through a brief Jira tutorial. Jira allows teams of all types to manage work using boards, issues, and workflows. Originally, Jira was designed as a bug and issue tracker. But today, Jira has evolved into a powerful work management tool for all kinds of use cases, from requirements and test case management to agile software development.

Jira Use Cases:

  • Requirements and test case management
  • Agile teams
  • Product Management
  • Project Management
  • Software Development teams
  • Task management

3 Step Jira Tutorial

1. Create a Project

2. Create an Issue

3. Work on the issue until it eventually reaches a DONE Status (This will vary by project)

Next Generation versus Classic Software Projects

Jira currently supports two types of types of projects: Next Generation and Classic Software.

Next Generation Jira Projects

Pros

  • Easy to manage and setup
  • No Jira Admin Needed
  • Less functionality than Classic Software projects

Cons

  • Hard to enforce consistency across projects

Classic Software Jira Projects

Classic Software

Pros

  • More Functionality
  • Premium Features available
  • Easy to enforce consistency
  • Ability build custom workflows

Cons

  • Hard to initialize
  • Requires a Jira Admin most of the time

Issue Types

Epic

Epics are used to group stories, tasks, and other objects together.

Story

Stories normally consist of a new body of work or a new creation.

Bug

Bugs track problems or errors.

Task

Tasks usually are things you have to do to complete a project

Subtask

Use subtasks to break up the work of a task into smaller parts or to help divide up the work among multiple people. Subtasks function like independent tasks with all the same fields as a parent task but are embedded within a parent task.

Board Types

Kanban Board

A kanban board is an agile project management tool designed to help visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency.  Kanban boards use cards, columns, and continuous improvement to help teams succeed.

Scrum / Sprint

A scrum board allows you to manage stories, tasks, and bugs in sprints.

Additional Reading

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/getting-started/basics