Mastering Operational Tasks in Jira: A Guide for Ecommerce Agencies

Ever found your ecommerce agency grappling with a common dilemma: how do you effectively track those crucial operational tasks that aren't quite "development work" but are absolutely essential for a project's success? Things like updating marketing copy, reviewing JIRA workflows, or coordinating stakeholder communications – these often fall into a grey area, threatening to either clutter your main development backlog or get lost in a separate, disconnected system.

This challenge recently sparked a lively discussion in an online community. The original poster described a team of "producers" handling vital, non-sprint tasks within a software project managed in Jira. Their core question was about accountability and visibility: how to track these tasks without either dumping them into the product backlog or resorting to a separate tool like Asana, which felt redundant for a single project.

The Operational Task Dilemma: Options Explored

The original poster considered several options:

1. Using Asana for producer tasks (fearing "two-tool" complexity).
2. Creating a separate Jira project for these tasks.
3. Logging tasks in the existing Jira project but using filters (like Components or Labels) to exclude them from the main backlog.
4. Considering them part of Agile sprints, even if not estimated like typical dev tasks.

They initially leaned towards a separate Jira project, but sought broader experiences.

Consensus: Avoid Tool Sprawl

The community's response was overwhelmingly clear on one point: for a single project, avoid splitting your task tracking across multiple tools like Jira and Asana.

One respondent eloquently warned, "splitting across Jira and Asana usually sounds cleaner at first but turns into context switching hell later." Another community member highlighted that "visibility got messy fast" when operational items were tracked elsewhere, emphasizing the critical need for a "single source of truth." The consensus was that any perceived initial benefit of a lighter-weight tool quickly gets negated by increased context switching, lost visibility, and tasks falling through the cracks.

Jira-Centric Solutions: Keeping it Integrated

With the "one tool" principle established, the discussion focused on how to best manage these tasks within Jira. Two primary, well-supported approaches emerged:

1. Same Jira Project, Dedicated Issue Type & Filtered Board

This was the most popular suggestion. The idea is to keep all work for a project within its single Jira project, leveraging Jira's robust filtering and customization.

• Create a Dedicated Issue Type: Introduce a new issue type, such as "Producer Task" or "Operational Task," to clearly differentiate these items from standard development stories or bugs.
• Set Up a Filtered Board or Quick Filter: Create a new Jira board or a quick filter on your existing board that specifically displays only these new issue types. This allows the producer team to manage their workload without cluttering the main sprint backlog. JQL filters like project = "YourProject" AND issuetype = "Producer Task" are ideal for this.

This method provides clear tracking and accountability without introducing tool sprawl. It's particularly effective for complex, multi-faceted operational tasks, such as those detailed in an ecommerce migration runbook. These runbooks often contain dozens of non-code-related checklist items – data validation, DNS updates, third-party integration checks, communication plans – all critical, all needing a home, but not necessarily belonging directly in a developer's sprint.

2. Separate Jira Project (within the same Jira instance)

A strong second option proposed creating a completely separate Jira project specifically for these operational or "producer" tasks. This keeps everything within the Jira ecosystem, avoiding the context-switching nightmare of entirely different tools.

• Cleaner Separation: This offers a more distinct separation of concerns and workflows, which can be beneficial for larger agencies or more complex projects.
• Maintaining Visibility: You can still link issues between the operational project and the main development project. Dashboards can also be configured to pull data from both projects for a holistic view of progress and dependencies.

The Agile View: Integrate, Estimate, Account

An important counterpoint emerged from some community members: why isolate these tasks at all? They argued that if these tasks are essential to the project's success and require team members' time, they should be considered part of the overall project scope, estimated, and included in sprints or capacity planning.

One respondent stated, "They are part of your sprint, so you should add them to the Jira project. They should be estimated and planned like any other task or deliverable." This perspective highlights that a holistic view of team capacity and workload requires all work, operational or developmental, to be visible and accounted for. This might involve dedicated "maintenance sprints" or incorporating operational tasks directly into regular sprint planning.

EShopSet Team Comment

At EShopSet, we lean towards keeping all project-related work within a single, robust system like Jira. While a separate issue type and filtered board is a great start for operational tasks, we advocate for eventually integrating these tasks into your overall sprint planning and estimation. If it's critical work, it deserves capacity allocation and visibility, much like any other deliverable in an ecommerce migration runbook. This approach fosters a more holistic view of team workload and prevents 'hidden' work from impacting project timelines.

Ultimately, the goal for any ecommerce agency is clarity, accountability, and efficiency. Whether you opt for a clever filter within your existing Jira project, a dedicated sub-project within Jira, or decide to fully integrate these tasks into your agile sprints, the key is to ensure these vital operational tasks are tracked, visible, and contributing effectively to your agency's and your clients' success. Choose the method that best balances separation with holistic visibility for your team.