Why this matters
Your manager wants the team’s work in Jira by next Monday instead of a spreadsheet, so anyone can see what is in progress without a status meeting. You have never opened Jira, and the team’s first sprint starts the same day.
In this module you set it up on Jira’s free plan: a Scrum space, a short backlog with story points, a two-week sprint with a goal, cards moving across the board, and a closed sprint whose unfinished work rolls into the next one.
What you’ll build
A team-managed Scrum space called "Ops practice" (key OP) with six work items estimated at 22 story points, a two-week sprint holding the top four items (18 points) with a one-line goal, and a board where three cards reached Done.
Sprint insights shows 16 of 18 points done (89%). When you complete the sprint, the open item rolls into OP Sprint 2, and 16 points becomes your first velocity number.
What you need
- Nothing to start the practiceThe practice is built from real Jira screens and does not touch any Jira site.
- A free Jira Cloud site, to do it for realJira’s Free plan covers small teams. Use made-up practice work until you are comfortable.
Concepts
3 ideas you’ll use in the practice.
Spaces and work items
Atlassian now calls projects spaces and issues work items. Older guides still use the old words. A team-managed space is the simpler choice for one team.
A new Scrum space already has an empty first sprint above the backlog. You only use Create sprint for later sprints.
Story points and the sprint
Story points are a rough size for each item (1, 2, 3, 5, 8), not hours. The team fills a sprint with about what it can finish: for a first sprint with no history, about 70% of what feels possible.
A sprint is a fixed time box, two weeks by default, with one goal. Start sprint puts its items on the board in To Do.
Done means the last column
Jira counts a work item as finished only when it reaches the board’s rightmost column. Move cards by dragging them or with the card’s menu › Change status.
Sprint insights on the board shows progress and the burndown. With 18 points over 10 working days, the ideal line falls 1.8 points a day.
Practice
Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.
Do it for real
Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.
Quick check
3 questions to check you’ve got it.
1. What does Atlassian now call a Jira “issue” in its docs?
- A work item
- A ticket
- An epic
Show the answer
A work item. Atlassian’s current docs use “work item” for issue and “space” for project.
2. When does Jira count a work item as complete in a sprint?
- When it is in the board’s rightmost column
- When someone comments “done”
- When it has story points
Show the answer
When it is in the board’s rightmost column. Completion is based on the board’s last column, so make that column mean done.
3. You finished 16 of the sprint’s 18 points. What happens to the open item when you complete the sprint?
- Jira deletes it
- You move it to the backlog or the next sprint
- It stays in the closed sprint
Show the answer
You move it to the backlog or the next sprint. Complete sprint asks where open items go; pick the next sprint for anything still important.
Jira: Kanban Board with WIP Limits and Cycle Time
You ran a sprint. Next: set up a Kanban board for work that never stops arriving, with a WIP limit and a cycle time chart.
Start module 2 →