This article will introduce you to team-managed and company-managed projects in Jira and help you pick the right option for your team.
In 2018, Atlassian launched Next-Gen projects for Jira Cloud to provide project administrators the ability to fully manage their projects, without requiring Jira administrators to add new statuses to the workflow or new fields to screens.
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Initially, the “Next-gen” was a beta feature. Atlassian tested new features and validated the idea with independent teams that wanted fresh features and total control over their projects. Using this new project type, they could present new features and ideas that would potentially roll out to Classic projects in the future.
This year Atlassian renamed the project types to use more meaningful nomenclature. The names were updated from “Next-gen” projects to “Team-managed” projects and “Classic” projects to “Company-managed.” This name change reflects the main difference between both types — Who is responsible for administering the project.
The Importance of Choosing the Right Project Type
When creating new projects in Jira, you will have to choose between the two project types, and we want to provide you with some guidance and confidence to choose the one that best meets your business needs.
Screenshot of creating a new project based on Kanban Template
Keep in mind, migrating between Team-managed and Company-managed projects is not a trivial task. There are known data loss issues during the migration. So, you’ll need to think about how the project will grow over time before choosing the project type.
Company-Managed (Formerly Classic)
This project type is managed by your company. Essentially this means that only the Jira Administrator can perform changes that impact Company-managed projects. Here are some examples:
- Add/remove issue types
- Add/remove workflow status
- Add/remove priorities
- Modify shared workflows
- Modify permission, notification, workflows, screens, fields configurations scheme
- Manage existing and new custom fields
If your team needs to work across multiple projects in a standard way, have a complex workflow, or need a detailed permissions scheme, you should opt for Company-managed.
Here are some common reasons to choose Company-managed projects:
- Classic look and feel
- Detailed permissions
- Ability to have a specific workflow per Issue Type
- Advanced workflow editor for complex workflows
- This provides you access to conditions, validators, and post-functions
- Different Screens to Create, Edit, and View per issue type
- Standard Shared schemes across multiple projects
- Issue type schemes
- Workflow scheme
- Screen schemes
- Fields schemes
- Permission scheme
- Notification scheme
- Issue security schemes
Team-Managed (Formerly Next-Gen)
This project type is managed by the project administrators, empowering the team to decide and implement their changes without requiring help from the Jira Administrator. Project admins also don’t need to worry about impacting other projects since Team-managed projects don’t use Jira schemes and work independently.
If your team is autonomous and wants a self-contained project to define your process using a simple workflow, a Team-managed project would be a great fit.
Here are some common reasons to opt for Team-managed projects:
- Managed by project members
- Easy and fast to set up
- Easy to edit workflow
- Simplified permissions
- Updated look and feel
- Ability to toggle features on and off
- New features added regularly
Tips for Choosing the Right Project Type
It’s important to understand what features your team needs and how the company wants to track its activities when choosing the right project type. So, if your company is starting to use the Team-managed project, we recommend that team members and Jira administrators discuss and agree on what project type to choose.
Below you can find advantages and disadvantages for both project types. This might help you to decide the appropriate solution for your team:
Conclusion
The project type is the first thing you need to decide when creating a new project. As you can see, there are significant differences between both options. Choosing the right project type will help your team get the most out of Jira.
As an Atlassian Platinum Enterprise Solution Partner, we solve strategic business problems with Atlassian’s products. Our official partnerships with Atlassian and other leading technology companies like AWS, Cloudflare GitHub, InVision, and Ionic, create a unique ecosystem for your success. If you’d like expert advice on setting up your projects in Jira or need any help related to Atlassian tools, talk to Modus.
