{"id":668,"date":"2023-04-24T11:31:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T11:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/titanapps.io\/blog?p=668"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:51:09","slug":"jira-sprints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/titanapps.io\/blog\/jira-sprints","title":{"rendered":"Create and Manage Jira Sprints Like a Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jira is one of the most flexible and customizable Project Management tools on the market. It\u2019s also built from the ground up with Agile in mind making it one of the best solutions for managing Sprints in Scrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Scrum and how does it fit into Atlassian Jira?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Scrum is a lightweight Project management framework. It is designed to break down a large body of work into iterative increments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scrum was originally introduced as a way of improving collaboration in teams that are working on solving complex problems. In essence, the Scrum team breaks down the entire project into Sprints \u2013 short, time-boxed periods during which a Scrum team is to deliver an agreed-upon number of increments, AKA functional features. All five of the scrum events, such as sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and retrospective take place during the sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scrum framework is incomplete by design. It encourages the process of continuous learning and improving through your work. Your decisions will be based on observation, ability to adapt, and a fair bit of common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You can learn more about Scrum from the Scrum guide<\/a> and on Scrum.org<\/a>. For now, I\u2019ll just assume you know the basics and focus on the elements that are directly applicable in your Jira instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scrum team<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The average Scrum team has three roles: Product owner, Scrum master, and Developers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Product Owner<\/strong> is accountable for the product value a Scrum team delivers. This person shares the goals of the Sprint, and should answer any questions the dev team might have regarding the product or users. PO is also responsible for Jira Themes & initiatives<\/a>, Epics<\/a> and User Stories<\/a>. In terms of Jira, the Product Owner is responsible for translating the project plan into Jira<\/a>, Jira roadmap<\/a> design, as well as backlog management and prioritization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Scrum Master<\/strong> acts as the team\u2019s coach. This person observes everyone\u2019s activities and helps deliver a successful result. Scrum Master facilitates standups, helps to keep the scope in check during sprint planning, and hosts retrospectives. In terms of Jira, the Scrum Master is responsible for the Sprint board. He is usually the admin on the project and helps ensure that the cards are updated and flow through the established Jira workflow<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers<\/strong> deliver the work during the active Sprint. They have to determine what they can deliver during a Sprint. To them, Jira is a board with tasks they can contribute to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product backlog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Typically, the Product Owner creates the first batch of User Stories that are added to a backlog. These stories will be generalized as their main goal is to introduce a certain vector to the development process. Think of it as a place to store concepts and ideas. They may (or may not) become TODOs that will shape the product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can access your backlog in Jira from the backlog tab in the sidebar. You\u2019ll then have to scroll down past planned sprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sprint backlog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Jira best practices<\/a>, after the initial user stories are refined, the team can agree to add them to the Sprint backlog. This is a separate pool of tickets that you\u2019ll be working on during one Sprint. You\u2019ll only want to add those stories that are immediately actionable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to cover 100% of the acceptance criteria at this stage, but make sure that the team understands the story well enough to be confident in their ability to deliver the result. Many companies use the INVEST<\/a> method to set this Definition of ready in stone. You\u2019ll want to move your work items from the backlog to the Sprint backlog in Jira after the Sprint planning session.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Story points<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jira work items have a custom field for Story Points. Engineers use them to measure the complexity of a story. The discussion regarding how many story points a story is worth happens during the Sprint Planning meeting, and the complexity is based on effort, uncertainty (engineers not being sure how they can deliver a feature), and risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The team will be burning these story points by completing the work items (issues). How does this work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n