When it comes to Project management, Jira is a complex tool that prides itself on the ability to scale according to the needs of large companies and Enterprises. Yet certain features that benefit teams that strive for consistency and simplicity in their processes are still nowhere to be found.
Let’s be real here. If you’ve created a detailed issue with multiple fields in Jira once, the idea of doing it again probably won’t excite you. Even less so if we are talking about creating these issues repeatedly whenever you need to onboard somebody or plan a feature release.
Reusing issues as templates for repetitive tasks in a Jira project
Let’s imagine you are working in a finance team. You are managing around 30 or more processes that run daily, monthly, and annually. Each of these processes requires at least one Jira issue. Most demand multiple tasks with specific subtasks.
Surely, filling out every field and manually specifying the necessary detailed instructions will take a lot of time from your day. And, mathematically speaking, the more issues you fill with content, the higher the probability of missing something important.
Does Jira have a dedicated solution for such cases?
The short answer is no. Jira doesn’t have anything that’s designed with the ability to create issues once and reuse them as the need arises.
Still, you can find a workaround to create a Jira issue template.
Automation for Jira
Automation for Jira is a robust feature that allows users to create customizable automation rules. You can automatically use triggers like Issue Created and conditions like Summary Contains to create tasks and subtasks.
This way, based on your trigger, you can specify that an issue must have certain fields, instructions, and child issues upon issue creation.
This sounds cool (because it is), however, there are several significant drawbacks to this approach.
⚠️ Automation requires admin permissions, meaning your team members need to ping the admin whenever they want to update or simply review a rule.
⚠️ Jira Automation is prone to errors. Users can not address errors independently, meaning they will – again – need assistance from the admin.
⚠️ You’ll need to do some additional Jira training or prepare some guidelines to educate your users on how to trigger certain rules.
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. You can automatically create issues with specific values in issue fields. 2. You can schedule the creation of issues. 3. You can create issues together with subtasks. | 1. Requires heavy investment from a dedicated admin. 2. Prone to errors. 3. Requires additional education. 4. Doesn’t offer template management and configuration options to the team. |
Automation for Jira is a great tool. However, if you prefer not to hire a separate person to manage processes, it may be beneficial to explore alternative approaches.
Setting up default values in fields
Sometimes, the ability to prefill a specific field’s content is all you need. In this case, the functionality to customize fields should do the trick.
Here’s an example of how this works: You set up a description field for each issue type and add the content you want to see. Additionally, you can add specific custom fields or specify some as required. This can be helpful for times when you need a Definition of Done in your Stories or a list of specific steps in Bugs.
However, this functionality won’t be enough when you need to template complex processes.
⚠️ You are not creating templates per se. Every issue of a certain type will have the same fields with the same content. This dramatically limits your options for creating a diverse pool of templates.
⚠️ You will require help from an administrator every time you need to set up the default values in fields.
⚠️ While setting up a default field in a Team Managed project is straightforward enough, the flow for doing the same in a Company Managed project is rather convoluted.
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. You can customize and prefill the fields in your Jira issues. | 1. Limited options for customization and management of templates. 2. Requires help from an admin. |
Specific prefilled fields can be a good option for cases like a Bug template. However, this functionality is vastly lacking in the customizability of your “templates”.
Cloning
Issue cloning is a tool designed to reuse issues or entire projects. Cloning should be your go-to option for the times when you need to escalate and sync data between issues in Jira ITSM and Jira. It’s also a great tool for easily cloning in bulk.
That said, cloning tends to fall apart when it comes to templating issues, as the functionality simply wasn’t designed with this use case in mind.
⚠️ The main challenge of using cloning lies in lacking a dedicated space for managing templates. You will need to have dedicated projects with preset issues that can be reused. This in and of itself is quite challenging in the context of an already cluttered Jira instance.
⚠️ You’ll need to create some way of marking specific issues as templates. Then, you’ll need to guide your team on what can or can’t be done with them.
⚠️ You will still miss certain important features, like managing dynamic values, scheduling templates, reviewing the history of created issues, etc.
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. Can help clone the entire hierarchy of issues with prefilled issue field values and project settings. | 1. No dedicated space for storing and managing templates. 2. Requires additional management and internal education. 3. Laking crucial features for managing dynamic templates. |
Cloning issues works perfectly for issue escalation and bulk cloning purposes. However, you’ll still require additional tools for proper process management.
Smart Templates
Automation for Jira and Cloning may seem like a nice option in several niche cases. But what if you need a straightforward approach to managing processes in Jira instead of workarounds?
Smart Templates for Jira is an app that was born from our internal need for a reliable process management solution. It has been tested and polished through over 1000 internal processes. Now, the MVP is ready to be shared with the Atlassian community 💙
⚡The Smart Templates app allows you to create templates for any issue type, like Epic, Story, or Bug. We also support custom issue types.
⚡You can prefill issue summary, description, components, etc., including custom fields, ensuring consistency across repetitive processes.
⚡Variables are available for managing dynamic values in your processes.
⚡Need detailed to-dos in your templates? Extend the functionality of templates through a seamless integration with the Smart Checklist app.
And that’s only an MVP! We look forward to helping you maintain your processes in a flexible and straightforward way, with more features coming soon.
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. Forget about looking for your “issue templates” in a cluttered Jira with a centralized hub for managing processes. 2. Save an entire hierarchy of issues as a template, or create one from scratch. 3. Adjust the process in several clicks: easily add and reorder new issues and pre-fill issue fields. 4. Manage dynamic values with template variables. | No cons so far, but we are always open to feedback 😊 |
A dedicated one-in-all solution for keeping your processes well-documented and easy to adopt instead of puzzling workarounds
How would you use Smart Templates for Jira?
Smart Templates are a great tool for managing complex repetitive processes across all departments. Some examples may include templating issue hierarchies for:
- Recruitment process
- Feature release
- Ad campaign launch
- Payroll
- IT Infrastructure setup
How can I add Smart Templates to my Jira instance?
Our Jira app is available for Jira Cloud users on the Atlassian Marketplace. Please note that you will require admin permissions to install the app. All you have to do to simplify work management is to visit the Smart Templates page on the Marketplace and give it a try for free.
