My company is implementing Jira for project management and I need advice on the best approach. I manage 5 developers who frequently switch between different client projects and sometimes collaborate on the same initiative.
I’m confused about whether to organize Jira by creating separate projects for each client work or grouping everything by development team. What’s the most effective way to structure this?
Also wondering about board configuration in either scenario. Should each project have its own board or can we share boards across projects? And when exactly should I be creating Epics versus regular tasks?
Would love to hear how others have set up Jira in similar situations with multiple ongoing projects.
We hit the same issue with our distributed teams. Tried a few approaches before landing on a hybrid setup that actually works. Started organizing by team but that became an admin nightmare when clients needed visibility into their stuff. Now we run separate Jira projects for each client but share components and versions across related projects. Lets us track client work while keeping code dependencies intact between projects. Each project gets its own scrum board, plus we maintain one consolidated sprint planning board using cross-project filters. The big realization? Structure your Jira around how you bill and report to clients, not just your internal dev workflow. For Epics, I only use them for features spanning multiple sprints or needing coordination across different skill sets. Regular dev tasks stay as stories unless they actually need that higher-level grouping for planning.
Had this exact problem when we went from 3 to 12 developers working multiple clients. Tried both ways - client-based projects won hands down. The reporting alone is worth it. Clients get their own dashboard without seeing other client work, which is huge for billing and keeping stakeholders happy. For boards, we run one Kanban per project but added a master ‘Team Capacity’ board that pulls from all active projects using JQL filters. Gets us project isolation plus team workload visibility. I create Epics for anything over two sprints or involving multiple devs - basically stuff that needs tracking above user story level. Just pick your Epic criteria and stick with it.
we keep it simple - one project per client with shared workflows and custom fields. way less headache when clients want reports or need access. team boards beat project boards every time. just filter by who’s assigned and current sprint. don’t overthink epics - we only use them for major releases or features that take months.