When would it be appropriate to use multiple boards in a project?

[Michael Arndt]

So I'm new to Jira and I was using boards when I learned components are a better make to segment parts of a project.

So in what use case would it be appropriate to use multiple boards in a project?

[Jack Brickey]

There are lots of reasons to use different boards but most of those reasons are associated w/ the following 'answer'...

When the teams that use the boards want/need something different than what is offered in the current board.

With that general statement made here are some examples.

• One team plans to Scrum and others Kanban
• A team wants to focus only on 'their issues'
• A team wants to map statuses to different columns
• A team wants different swimlanes
• A team needs a different filter, e.g. multiple projects vs. the single project that the current board offers

Boards, at their core, are simply visual filtered lists of issues that allows a team to work more effectively. The nice thing is that a team can define what works best for them and not be constrained to what works best for all.

[Michael Arndt]

So can different boards use different workflows? 

If yes would could issues exist on both boards or would it have to be assigned to a board? I believe I read that boards simply filter the issues and issues aren't necessarily assigned to a board.

[Jack Brickey]

Well yes sort of. Boards are not directly associated w/ workflows except sometimes they are. How is that for being vague? :-)

Let me attempt to clarify this.

• Issues belong to Projects not Boards
• Boards are glorified visual representations of filtered lists. A board is created based upon a filter. The filter can be simple, e.g. project = ABC or very complex JQL queries.
• For some project types, namely Next-gen in cloud, the board does represent the workflow. However, for classic projects and boards the workflow is associated to issuetypes. you map the WF statuses to columns in the board and they can be mapped in seemingly random order if desired. Though generally you want to retain the 'to do > in progress > done' progression L to R.

So w/ that info let me now answer your question. Issue can appear on multiple boards freely. each board will be updated concurrently. That is, when an issue is dragged from one column on one board it will update the issue on the other board. Whether it changes columns on the other board depends on if/where the new status is mapped.