Jira is Atlassian's industry-leading work management platform used for planning, tracking, and releasing software and business projects. In Jira Cloud, issues are now called "work items" and projects are now called "spaces" — a terminology shift rolled out across all plans through 2025 — while JQL and APIs retain legacy issue/project keywords for backward compatibility. Jira supports software teams with Scrum and Kanban boards, and extends to IT service management (Jira Service Management), business teams, and cross-team planning (Jira Plans). The 2026 Spring Release introduces AI Agents (Rovo), guest access, custom space templates, and a seasonal release cadence — making it important to keep up with the platform's rapid evolution.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 26 focused tables and 236 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Issue / Work Item Types
| Type | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
Epic: "User Authentication" spanning 3 sprints | • Large body of work broken into stories • sits above story in the default hierarchy. In Jira Cloud, epics are now regular work items with a parent–child relationship. | |
Story: "As a user, I can reset my password" | • User-facing feature or requirement written from the end-user perspective • core unit of Scrum planning. | |
Task: "Set up CI/CD pipeline" | Generic work item for technical or administrative work not described as a user story. | |
Bug: "Login button unresponsive on iOS 17" | • Defect or unintended behavior requiring a fix • typically includes steps to reproduce, severity, and affected versions. | |
Sub-task under Story: "Write unit tests" | • Child work item under a parent story or task • used to break down work into smaller, assignable pieces. |