Looking for advice on how to properly manage a single big project with multiple platforms

[Gil]

Hi all.

This is a bit complicated to explain, so I hope I can make it clear and concise.

The END GOAL: Find a logical and streamlined way of managing a single big project with multiple platforms.

We have one large project running by a single team of 15 people. Project X.

This project is used on three different platforms. Platform 1, 2 and 3.

Each platform has its own scrum board, therefore each board considered by Jira as a project

All boards are manually synced with the same sprint name, start/end dates.

On daily standup, we use a scrum board that consolidates all the platforms under a single board view. Remember we have only one team that works on all these platforms because they share the same base code.

The problems we face are:

1. Triple handling of sprints on all three boards. Would like to know if there's a better way to manage it in such a way we only manage one sprint because they are all the same sprint names and dates anyway. 

2. Since all platforms share the same base code, if we encounter a bug we face the question of which board should we use to raise the bug if the bug affects all three platforms or two platforms.

Appreciate your suggestions.

[Jillian Amyot _Unito_]

Hey @Gil , is the scrum board in Jira? (I'm more familiar with Trello than with Jira). What I believe could help is a workflow management solution by a company I work for called Unito, it has a visual designer so you can create a master board where all the information from the boards feed into 1. That way, you have visibility into your 3 projects. Typically its used for projects on different platforms (Ex: Jira + Trello +Asana) but it can work for the same Jira projects too!

Here and here are links that might prove helpful. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Gil]

Yes, we use only jira for our product. We cannot change our tools at the moment.

[Jillian Amyot _Unito_]

Okay, then Unito's workflow visual designer would work for your needs, if you decide to try it out. :) 

[John Funk]

Hey Gil,

Here is what I would do - I would create Components on Project X for each platform - Platform 1, Platform 2 and Platform 3. Place one component on each issue in the project. 

Then I would create a single board with one Sprint. Then create 3 Quick Filters on the board - one for each platform. That way you simply click on the quick filter for that platform to see that "project". 

I hope that makes sense. 

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

I like @John Funk 's suggestion.

The cool thing about this is, that you can add (several) components to your bug tickets. That means if all platforms or 2 platforms are affected by a bug, they will be displayed correctly when you work with Quick Filters.

If you still want to work with several boards, you could create 3 boards within a JIRA classic project. In classic projects Sprints can be shared over boards (and even between projects). 

[Gil]

@John Funk that's a good suggestion. You gave me something to think about.

We already use components so this can make sense to the team.

@Marlene Kegel - codefortynine we're using classic projects, but how do you share sprints over several boards without managing each board's sprint individually?

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

You can simply add any classic sprint to any classic issue.

E.g. you can add a sprint that was created in project DEV to QA-123. The sprint will automatically appear on the QA planning board, where the issue is located. 

An empty sprint is only visible on the "origin board" (the board where it was created), but if an issue is displayed on your board that is associated to an active sprint (planned or open), that sprint will be visible ... if you want it or not :) ....

I learned this is a situation where I didn't want this to happen - but there's no way to avoid this.

[Gil]

Just so I'm sure I understand (I'm slow without my coffee), regardless of a give Jira issue is under Project X, Y or Z, if a Jira issue has its sprint field, populated with Sprint-1, it will appear on the scrum board of that sprint? 

Like collecting Jira issues from all projects into a single Scrum board based on the value in the sprint field?

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

I am not sure if I understand your last sentence correctly, but the first part sounds valid to me.

The board only shows issues which are defined in the "board settings" as filter. 

Here an example:

• You create a sprint "Platform1 sprint" in the "Platform1" backlog/board
• Then you update the sprint field of any issue in the project Platform2 which is currently visible in the Platform2 backlog to "Platform1 sprint" (e.g. Platform2-123) 

-> "Platform1 sprint" should now be visible in your "Platform2" backlog (or board if the sprint was started).

I hope that helps!

[Gil]

Thanks. That's clear.