Jira Crash Course

Think Jira is just for developers? Think again. While Jira has long reigned as the king of agile project management in the tech world, Atlassian’s recent transformation of Jira Work Management has made this powerhouse much more versatile.

From marketing campaigns to HR processes, finance tracking, and cross-departmental collaboration, today’s Jira is breaking free from its developer-centric roots.

The best part? You don’t need to be a coding expert to harness its power. Whether you’re tracking recruitment pipelines in HR, managing content calendars in marketing, or overseeing financial projects, Jira’s modernized interface and streamlined workflows make project management feel less like a chore and more like a superpower.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about making Jira work for your team – from choosing between free and paid versions to mastering Scrum basics. Ready to transform the way your team collaborates? Let’s dive in.

Before we start, for your information, I have a Crash Course in the form of a training course at this address. This is my latest revision of the evolving course, which you can implement in less than 90 minutes.

What is Jira?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Jira is that it’s not easy to learn, it’s complicated, and you need to master it for a minimum of 6-8 months to use it like a pro. 

Well, yes, from the admin perspective, it’s true. But if you are a Scrum Master Manager, BA, or PMO, chances are you won’t even be able to access the administration section, which is the most complex. Also, you can learn some things about Jira and use it like a pro. 

In this tutorial, I will show what to focus on and how to do it correctly.

If you don’t know what an Issue Type, Workflow, Custom Field, or Transition is, I will add a short glossary at the end of this post.

OK, so what is Jira? Jira Cloud is a cloud-based version of Jira, the number one Agile Project management tool on the market, developed by the Australian company Atlassian. Jira offers all the features of the SaaS version, including agile Scrum or Kanban boards, backlogs, sprints, and reports.

It is important to note that Jira is a complex tool, and you must practice using it to be effective. However, this article will give you a basic introduction to how to use it, which will be all you need to know to get started.

Also, it can be beneficial to understand agile methodology before diving into Jira. This article will give you a crash course on Agile Scrum project management and how it could help your teams work effectively with it.

I will teach you all the basics, from project creation to adding the first ticket and how to start and finish Sprint. Plus, I will show you a bit about reports and dashboards. What are the benefits of using Jira? 

Jira Paid vs Jira Free vs Trello

After recent changes in the license model, we have two versions of Jira: Jira Cloud (SaaS Model) and Jira Data Center, a Self-hosted Jira version for large clients. This article focuses 100% on the Cloud version.

Let’s explain the Jira Cloud as it also has 3+ versions.

Jira Price

Jira’s free version is a great starting point with few limitations. For example, you can create up to 10 users, plus it does not support “advanced permissions,” which means you can’t create a “private” project. Also, if you plan to give your clients access to the Jira free version, please remember that they will see everything. You also have limited capacity regarding disk space for attachments, but 2GB is still a lot of space.

Next, we have Jira Standard. You will get everything from the free plan, plus you will be able to use Advanced Permissions (Jira Software’s permissions regulate everything from who may start new projects to what users can do, see, and comment on within projects and issues. Project or issue permission options are not available in the Free plan). But you can create private projects and utilize groups plus roles.

Jira Premium—Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but that’s why I recommend it. It offers the most advanced options, including Advanced Roadmaps (old Portfolio), Project Planning (reports), AI assistance, Project Arching, a very useful Sandbox Environment, Release tracks, and more. You can always test Jira Premium for 30 days.

I have to say Jira Premium is my favourite because of the Road maps and Sandbox, but it’s not a “must-have,” and you can always switch the plan later when you need such functionality.

The process is straightforward. You only need to go to the Atlassian website and click the “Get it Free” button. After that, you must accept the T&C, choose your domain name, and wait. Sometimes, it can take 1 minute, but your shiny Jira Instance should be ready in 10-15 minutes, so check your email now. 

I will also give you my tip. During the registration process, you can Include Confluence in your setup, as Jira plus Confluence is even better. Confluence also has three plans, so after a 30-day trial, switch to the free version (soon, I will write about Confluence, too). 

They will also offer you a 30-day Premium version; no card is required to view the premium Features.

Jira Hierarchy

Understanding projects and issues (ticket hierarchy) in Jira is crucial. The model is simple: Projects are the essential building blocks, and tickets or, as Jira call them, issues always belong to a project. Jira does not offer a sub-project, but in some cases, we can use Components to add sub-project functionality. However, components are just tags so we can choose a different component lead and default assignee. 

Regarding the Issue (ticket), the structure is also simple. Typically, Jira offers a 2-level hierarchy system. However, in Agile-type projects (Scrum and Kanban), we can use Epics as the 3rd level. Just a little bit complicate it if you have Jira Advanced, you can add an additional level (Initiatives or Mega Epics) 

Jira Interface and New Project

Now, let’s briefly talk about the interface. I want to save time so we can create our first Scrum Project very quickly.

The Tope menu in Jira is always visible, and that’s where you will find information about Other products like Confluence or Service Desk (if you have them). However, our primary focus is on Projects, so there is a section where you can switch between projects. For your information, even the free version of Jira has no project limits. So you can create as many projects as possible, but please don’t do it!

You can also find information about People and Apps. In the right section, we always have the search bar. So please spend some time familiarising yourself with the menu. 

Now, let’s create our first Project.

Please ensure you have the right to create a new project, so I hope you will use your Jira instance for this.

Navigate to Project -> Create project.

Because this tutorial is about the Scrum project, navigate to the left Section Software Development and Scrum.

The Default Scrum project setup is good! Now, click on Use Template and hold.

Jira should now ask you what project type you want to use. We will be focusing on Company-Managed only but feel free to create another project as Team-Managed. 

The team-managed project type is a simplified version of Scrum, which I prefer to avoid.

Let’s name our Project; the best thing to do is to give it a proper name. It is something close to production, so don’t name it test123.

I will my Project, Project Tytan (no idea why, but it songs good, lol)

The key is generated automatically, but you can always change it. I will add PTY. 

If everything is ready and looks similar to this picture, you can navigate to the new Project. We will add a few tickets and soon start our first Sprint. 

Project Structure and New Tickets

Now, let’s spend some time on issue types and fields. When you click the Create button (you can always use the C key on your keyboard as the shortcut), you should see the Create Screen popup. From the top, ensure that Project is your current name, and the issue type is Story. 

You should also see a new Project dedicated menu on the left side of your screen. The project menu should include Roadmap, Backlog, Active Sprints, Reports, and a few other sections. Also, be aware that the project menu can be different for project types; for example, in Kanban, Active Sprint is not present, but the rest of the menu items are similar. 

Let’s stop briefly on the Issue Typ, which is a type of ticket that can change; however, for Scrum, most tickets will be Story or Task. Each new Project will receive a default set of issue types which is 

• Story
• Task
• Bug
• Epic

Of course, each issue type allows you to create a Sub-task, but you can only do it when the first ticket is created. 

Now you should add Summary information, and I recommend adding some info in the description. However, the default configuration only requires a Summary to create a new ticket. So now, let’s hit the Create button. 

You should see a little popup in the bottom left corner with information about your ticket, plus a link to the “Issues” section. You should be able to see the ticket in the Backlog section as well. As your homework, please add 5-10 more, each ticket with a different issue type, and when they are ready, you can start your first Sprint.

Sprint planning like a boss

Sprint planning in Jira is a straightforward process and can be done quickly. Please don’t forget that you can plan a few sprints but don’t go too crazy. Adding seven or even 20 sprints ahead is likely not going to work. Also, Jira, by Default, uses “Single Sprint” mode, which means you can only have one active Sprint simultaneously. Of course, you can change it later in the admin section. 

You just need to drag tickets from the backlog to the active Sprint. You can use right-click or move multiple tickets using the left Shift key.

Another essential task is to add Story points or use hours, minutes, and days for estimation. Jira Scrum board by default is set to Story point, so you need to change it from the Board Settings -> Estimation -> Original Time Estimate.

When sprint planning is completed, you only need to hit the Start Sprint (blue button). 

It’s good practice to Name your Sprint, but the default name is also OK. 

Sprint Duration is up to you, but you can start from the most common two weeks; however, if that is too short, the next sprint duration can be extended. I also recommend adding Sprint goals so that all details are OK. Now, we can start our first Sprint. Also, please remember you can later adjust most of the Sprint settings. 

Regarding Agile methodology, changing Sprint Duration “on the fly” is not recommended, but if you need to do it, go back to the backlog and do it on the sprint edit option.

Active Sprint and Simplified Workflows 

So now you should be automatically moved by Jira to Active sprints. You should see all your tickets selected in the first column of your Active Sprint. 

By default, each new project Scrum or Kanban project uses Simplified Workflow and should have only three statuses. Therefore, I always recommend starting with a straightforward model like this. You only need three clicks to add additional status/collum in such a model. 

A simplified workflow allows you to move tickets from any status to any, which could sometimes cause issues. For example, you can move a ticket (Issue) from To Do directly to Done Status. Also, oppositely, so you can move the Closed or Resolved Issue back to ToDo. 

Another significant advantage of such a setup is manipulating your workflow; you don’t have to use project admin settings as it’s merged with the Scrum Board, which means a project administrator can perform this operation.

Of course, swapping from Simplified workflow to none simplified is possible, but it needs to be done from the project admin section.

So now, let’s add another status to our Scrum Board. First, you must navigate to Board settings -> Columns and use the add Column button. I will call it Blocked, and Category To Do. If you want to move the new column to the beginning of the board, drag it across. 

OK, now let’s test it. You can use back to board button but hold on for a second. My Jira instance has a bug, so I can’t move any new tickets to the freshly created column. You only need to refresh the page by hitting the F5 key or “Reload this page” in your browser.

Now, you should be able to move the ticket to the new column. 

Complete Sprint in the right way

We are almost done; there is only one more step so we can finish our Sprint. Of course, by the end of the Sprint, most of your tasks should be resolved, but it’s life, and more likely, some of your issues or Stories are stuck in blocked or other statuses. 

It’s OK, and don’t worry; Jira will handle this very well. Of course, it’s impossible to complete the Sprint with unresolved issues, so you will have few choices when you hit the Complete Sprint Button Jira. The most common is to push unresolved tickets to another sprint, but whatever works for you. You can also move them back to the backlog. 

Reports 

Before I explain Burn down charts, I want to let you know that I am not a big fan of Jira reports. However, you can later improve them by customizing Dashboards or creating your Filters. 

Anyway, you should see an automatically generated Burn down Chart, which is very helpful and easy to read but continue beyond this one report. You should explore other reports like velocity charts, Cumulative Flow charts, or Epic Reports. 

Some reports in Jira are acceptable and can do a good job. Additionally, if your Jira is linked to Confluence, you should be able to create a Retrospective report in Confluence. 

The Conclusion

Jira it’s a potent tool, and with the correct configuration, it can be a fantastic project management tool. I hope you enjoyed reading or watching this Blog post/tutorial, but there is one more important step. Please, introduce this knowledge into practice, as there is only one way to learn this by doing it.