How to use Jira for Scrum: Detailed Guide

Published: December 30, 2020
Last Updated: April 26, 2024

Support Team Lead at Alpha Serve

Want to use the benefits of agile project management and try scrum for planning work activities? First, find the best suitable software. More than 65,000 IT teams worldwide trust Jira. To know why, see our detailed tips on how to use Jira for Scrum.

How to use Jira for Scrum: Detailed Guide

Here’s what we’ll cover in this blog post:

What is Scrum in Jira
Create a Jira Scrum Project
Create a Jira Scrum Board
Using Sprints in Jira
Conclusion

Table of Contents:

What is Scrum in Jira
Create a Jira Scrum Project
Create a Jira Scrum Board
Using Sprints in Jira
Conclusion

It is a table of contents. Click on the needed subheading and switch between parts of the article.

What is Scrum in Jira

Scrum is an agile approach, commonly used by developers as it helps to deliver the value in the shortest time. It makes it possible to work upon projects iteratively with the so-called sprints and ship products on a regular cadence. Scrum also boosts collaboration through planning, daily standup meetings, and retrospectives.

Why to Use Jira for Scrum?

Simply because it has a user-friendly interface and provides easy to use options. These help organize and run working issues effectively and save time on organizational activities. Look how to use Jira tool for scrum projects: utilize a backlog, assign jobs to the sprints and visualize achievements, and you'll understand that Jira and Scrum are made for each other.

Create a Jira Scrum Project

For using Jira for Scrum, start from logging into Jira Software. Then proceed with a project, i.e. create a group of jobs to work on or in Jira terms “issues”.

To do this:

Navigate to Projects > Create project.
Choose a classic project or a next-gen project (whatever suits you best).
Enter a name for the project.
Choose Scrum among the templates.
Click the Create button.

2FA for Jira: U2F & TOTP has a bunch of other benefits, such as easy configuration, tracking U2F activity, safe backup codes, IP whitelisting, possibility to require all users or specific groups to enable 2FA, and so on.

Create User Stories, Tasks, and Bugs in Jira

In Scrum, user stories are utilized to define the goals in the user's language. They help developers to always keep in mind who needs a product, what goals they pursue and what benefits they might get. By using Jira in Scrum, you may initiate stories, and other issues quickly with the corresponding button on the backlog. You may also prioritize featured issues. For this, arrange them in the appropriate order. You may create and change items on a backlog whenever you want within the project lifetime.

Create a Jira Scrum Board

There are Jira Scrum boards to supervise a team's progress. This feature helps to arrange the issues and view their statuses as they are worked on. To create a board from scratch, select Search > View all boards. Then click Create board. Select Scrum among the proposed board types. Now you may add the board created to the relevant project.

Use columns or quick filters to help experts concentrate on the specific job and watch the work progress.

To optimize Jira Scrum boards according to your objectives:

Click Search > View all boards.
Select the board you need.
Click more > Board settings.
Choose your preferences.

Using Sprints in Jira

Use columns or quick filters to help experts concentrate on the specific job and watch the work progress.

Create and Start the Sprint in Jira

In Scrum, teams work on different tasks in sprints or the so-called iterations. These are scheduled periods, usually 1, 2 or 4 weeks long. Such milestones help to introduce refinements to the solution according to the feedback received and predict future work velocity. Before working with a sprint, the team usually holds a special ceremony called a planning meeting. It allows recognizing a sprint goal (problem to be solved in a sprint) and defining the issues assigned in the current iteration.

View Sprint Report in Jira

Use Sprint Report to watch how your team advances throughout the assignments. To access it, go to the appropriate project, click Reports > Sprint Report and choose the suitable sprint from the drop-down menu. There is also a Burndown Chart in the Sprint Report. It shows incomplete work, and forecasts if it is likely to achieve the sprint goal. Such documents may be used for daily standup meetings to see which job is done by a particular person.

Close the Sprint in Jira

Go to the Active sprints in the Scrum board and choose the sprint to be closed in the drop-down menu. Then click Complete Sprint. Issues which were not completed from this sprint can be transferred to the backlog, other sprint, or a new sprint.

Retrospective meetings allow discussing pains and benefits with the people involved.

Conclusion

Now, having known how to use Jira in Scrum, you understand that this tool encourages experts to be more collaborative and focus on their tasks with instant visibility and permanent access to work insights. All these help to deliver quality solutions as fast as possible, which is quite promising to give Jira a try.

To find out how to implement agile during the corona crisis, see our tips on process optimization for remote team work in Jira.

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