Projects

Create a project

NeedsManage the organization org_manage

The New project button is on the organization overview, beside New portfolio. It is absent for people without this bundle. An empty portfolio then reads No projects here yet. Creating one needs the Organization capability. With this bundle the same empty portfolio reads No projects here yet. Use New project to make the first one.

1. Click New project.
2. Type a Name.
3. Type a Key, for example ATLAS.
4. If the dialog shows a Portfolio select, choose where to file the project.
5. Click Create project.

The product opens the new project's screen. The project starts with no description, no Product Goal, no Product Owner and no team. It has the default settings, one phase named Phase 1, and two item types, User Story and Task. Each of those has its own control on the project screen.

The name

A name is 1 to 100 characters. The dialog refuses anything else before it sends anything. It refuses a blank name with A project needs a name. It refuses a name over 100 characters with Keep the name under 100 characters. The dialog shows one message at a time and checks the key first. On an empty form you read the key message before this one.

The key

The dialog refuses a key that breaks these rules, before it sends anything. The hint under the field states them: 2–10 letters and digits, starting with a letter. No hyphen — the product adds it and the item number, so key PROJ gives PROJ-1, PROJ-2 and so on. You cannot change the key later.

• A key is 2 to 10 characters long.
• It uses letters and digits only. No spaces and no hyphens.
• It starts with a letter.
• The key is always uppercase. The field changes lowercase letters to uppercase as you type, so "atlas" becomes ATLAS. A key typed as "my proj" still gets A key is 2–10 letters and digits, starting with a letter., because of the space.
• Type the key without a hyphen or an item number. The product adds both to each item id. A key typed as "PROJ-101" gets Leave out the hyphen and the number. The key is only the part before them: key PROJ gives items PROJ-1, PROJ-2 and so on.

The portfolio

The dialog shows the Portfolio select only when the organization has two or more portfolios. It starts on the first portfolio of the overview. With one portfolio, the dialog shows no select and the product files the project in the default portfolio. You can move the project later. See Portfolios.

If somebody deleted the chosen portfolio after the overview loaded, the product refuses the project with Portfolio not found. The dialog shows it as an error line.

At the plan cap

The Free plan includes 1 project. The Pro plan includes 10 projects in each portfolio, and it has no cap on the organization as a whole. The Enterprise plan has no cap. The product counts live projects only, so a deleted project frees its place. See Plans and billing.

On the Free plan, above the portfolios, the overview shows the count on a line such as Free plan 0 of 1 project Billing. At the cap the line adds the pill no more projects on this plan, and where paid plans are on sale the link reads Upgrade. Only people with Manage the organization see the line. On Pro and Enterprise the line is absent for everybody.

On the Pro plan, each portfolio heading shows its count against the cap for people with Manage the organization, as in 3 of 10 projects. A full portfolio also carries the pill no more projects in this portfolio.

An organization over the cap keeps every project it has, and the product refuses only the next one. On the Free plan the line then reads, for example, 3 of 1 project, with the same pill. On the Pro plan a portfolio with more than 10 projects keeps them.

When the plan refuses the project, the dialog replaces its form with a panel. On the Free plan it reads This plan includes 1 project, and it is in use. and then Deleting a project also frees its place. Nothing you typed was lost — go back to keep it. On the Pro plan, for a full portfolio, it reads This plan includes 10 projects in each portfolio, and this portfolio is full. and then Go back to choose another portfolio, or move a project out of this one. Nothing you typed was lost. The panel is not an error. It offers two choices.

• Click Back to return to the form. The name and the key are still there.
• Click See plans to open the billing screen.

The project screen

NeedsView view

Click a project card on the overview to open the project. The screen needs View from an organization role. The Product Owner role alone, or an override alone, does not give it, because the screen also reads the organization's teams, portfolios, members and roles. An override that denies View on this project takes the screen away too. Anybody without it, inside the organization or outside it, sees a not-found page. The product does not say that the project exists.

The screen holds the project's identity and its administration. It links to the working screens. They are not part of it. From top to bottom:

Title

The key in a badge, then the name. The Edit button is beside it. The button is absent for people without Manage the project.

Description

One paragraph. The screen shows it only when the project has one.

Product Goal

One paragraph. Without one, the screen says No Product Goal yet. The Product Backlog exists to fulfil one, so it is worth writing before the first Sprint. People with Manage the project read the same sentence with — Edit is where. at the end.

Links

Product Backlog, Sprint Planning, Board, Sprint Review and Retrospective. See The Product Backlog and Sprints.

Product Owner

The holder's name, or Nobody yet. When the holder's account no longer exists, the row reads Somebody no longer in this organization instead of a name. The project still records that person as the Product Owner. Everybody reads the row. The controls need Manage the project and are absent otherwise.

Teams

The Scrum Teams that work on the project, with the date somebody assigned each one. Everybody reads the list. The controls need Manage the project and are absent otherwise.

Phases, Item types, Epics, Definition of Done, Import

The shape of the backlog. Everybody reads them. See Project settings and Importing a backlog.

Overrides

The whole section is absent for people without Manage the project. It is not read-only for them. See Project overrides.

Settings

A grid of rows that save as you change them. People without Manage the project read each value as text under How this project is configured. Changing it needs the Project capability.

Portfolio

Where the project is filed, with the portfolio's name. The move and delete controls need Manage the organization. People without it read Where this project is filed in the organization. Moving or deleting it needs the Organization capability.

Ad slot

Last on the page. It appears only in an organization on the Free plan, and only on a server that offers ads. See Ads and cookie choices.

Edit the name, description and Product Goal

NeedsManage the project project_manage

The product checks this bundle on the project itself. An override on the project can grant it or remove it. See Project overrides.

1. Click Edit beside the title. The dialog Edit project opens.
2. Change the Name, the Description or the Product Goal.
3. Click Save.

The product sends only the fields you changed. If you changed nothing, Save closes the dialog and sends nothing. The Product Goal also shows on the project's card on the overview, at the top of the Product Backlog and at the top of Sprint Planning.

The Key field is in the dialog, but you cannot type in it. Its hint says Fixed. It prefixes every item id this project has minted. The product never sends it. The Description hint says Optional. One line about what this project is. The Product Goal hint says The Product Backlog exists to fulfil it. Shown at the top of this screen and on every sprint.

The dialog refuses three things before it sends anything.

• The name is 1 to 100 characters: A project needs a name. or Keep the name under 100 characters.
• The description is at most 500 characters: Keep the description under 500 characters.
• The Product Goal is at most 1000 characters: Keep the Product Goal under 1000 characters.

The Product Owner

NeedsManage the project project_manage

One person holds it, and the section says why: One person, not a committee. The Product Owner orders the Product Backlog, is the only person who may cancel a sprint, and receives every “Add a question”. With nobody named, the section reads Nobody is named. Until someone is, no one can cancel a sprint, and every “Add a question” goes to whoever created the project.

Name or replace the Product Owner

1. If nobody holds the role, choose a member in Name a Product Owner.
2. If somebody already holds the role, choose a member in Replace the Product Owner.
3. If the form shows an As select, choose which Product Owner role the person holds on this project.
4. Click Name. The button is disabled until you choose a member.

One click names the person. The product does not ask for confirmation, even when it replaces somebody. The note under the form says what happens: Gives that person the Product Owner role’s capabilities across this whole project. When you replace somebody, the note ends with , and takes them from Ada. The current holder's name stands in place of Ada.

The As select appears only when the organization has more than one Product Owner role. It starts on the role the current holder has, or on the Product Owner role with the system tag when nobody is named. The product keeps the same role for a replacement unless you change it. With one Product Owner role, the product uses the role with the system tag without asking.

If an administrator deleted that role, Name fails with This organization has no Product Owner role. If an administrator deleted the role you chose in As, Name fails with That role cannot be a Product Owner role for this project. A role's kind never changes, so nothing else causes that message. See Roles and permissions.

• The select offers every other member of the organization, never the current holder.
• When you are the only member and somebody holds it, the section says Nobody else is in this organization to name instead.
• The person must be a member. The product refuses anybody else with The Product Owner must be a member of this organization.

Remove the Product Owner

1. Click Remove on the holder's row.
2. Read the warning: Removes Ada’s Product Owner capabilities over this project. Nobody can cancel a sprint until someone else is named. The holder's name stands in place of Ada.
3. Click Remove Ada with the name, or click Keep to cancel.

The product asks first. When you remove the holder, they lose the Product Owner role's capabilities over this project. They keep every capability their organization roles and their team roles give them. Keep sends nothing. After you remove the holder, the section shows Nobody yet.

Teams on the project

NeedsManage the project project_manage

A Scrum Team works on a project only after somebody assigns it there. When you assign a team, every member gets their team role over the project's work. Without a team, nobody can activate a sprint.

You create a team on the Teams screen. You add its members on the team's own screen, which the list on Teams links to. See Scrum Teams.

The Teams screen needs View from an organization role. Anybody without it sees a not-found page. Creating a team needs Manage the organization. With View alone you read the list, and the New Scrum Team button is absent. Ask an administrator for the team.

The controls are in the Teams section of the project screen, below the list of assigned teams. Each refusal appears as the section's error line.

Assign a team

1. Choose a team in Add a Scrum Team.
2. Click Assign. The button is disabled until you choose a team.

One click assigns the team. The product does not ask for confirmation. The select offers only the teams that do not work here yet. When every team already works here, the product replaces the select with Every Scrum Team in this organization already works here. With no Scrum Team in the organization at all, the section shows neither.

• If another tab assigned the team first, the product refuses with Team Blue already works on this project. The team's name stands in place of Team Blue.
• If somebody deleted the team meanwhile, the product refuses with Scrum Team not found.

Remove a team

1. Click Remove on the team's row.
2. Read the warning: Removes this team’s access to the project’s work, including past sprints.
3. Click Remove Team Blue with the team's name, or click Keep to cancel.

If somebody already removed the team, the product refuses with That Scrum Team does not work on this project.

Move a project to another portfolio

NeedsManage the organization org_manage

You hold this bundle on the organization. An override on the project cannot grant it or remove it. The Portfolio section says what a move does: Where this project is filed in the organization. Moving it changes nothing about who works on it; deleting it removes it and reserves its key for good.

1. In the Portfolio section, choose the destination in Move to.
2. Click Move. The button is disabled until you choose a portfolio.

One click moves the project. The select lists only the other portfolios. When the organization has one portfolio, the select is absent. After you move it, the section shows the new portfolio's name and the overview lists the project under it.

If somebody deleted the destination after the page loaded, the product refuses the move with Portfolio not found. The section shows it as an error line, and the page does not reload.

On the Pro plan, a portfolio holds at most 10 projects. A move into a full portfolio shows a line, not an error: The Pro plan includes 10 projects in each portfolio, and this portfolio is full. Choose another portfolio, or upgrade to add another. The link See plans follows it and opens the billing screen. The project stays where it is.

Delete a project

NeedsManage the organization org_manage

1. Click Delete project, the last control in the Portfolio section.
2. Read the warning: Removes PROJ from the organization, with its backlog, sprints and events. The key PROJ stays reserved and cannot be reused. Your project's key stands in place of PROJ.
3. Click Delete PROJ with the key, or click Keep to cancel.

After you delete the project, the product takes you to the organization overview. The project, its backlog, its sprints and its events leave every list. There is no undo.

• There is no other precondition. You can delete a project with an active sprint.
• A deleted project frees its place under the plan cap, on the Free plan and in a Pro portfolio.

What the activity feed records

The activity feed records the changes below. People with Manage the organization read them on the Activity screen. An entry gives the time, the person and the kind of change. It does not give the detail, such as the old name and the new one. See The activity feed.

• A created project.
• An edit of the name, the description or the Product Goal.
• A change in the Settings grid. Each row saves on its own, so three changed rows write three entries.
• A named, replaced or removed Product Owner.
• An assigned or removed team.
• A set or cleared override.
• A move to another portfolio.
• A deletion.

When somebody else changed the project

The Product Owner controls, Move and Delete project each send the version the page loaded. Edit sends the version the dialog read when it opened. If somebody else saved the project after that, the control says This project changed since the page loaded. It has been reloaded — try again. and the page reloads. The product does not save your change. Read what changed. Then try again.

The Edit project dialog reads the project again each time it opens, so a change made on the screen does not stop it. If that read fails, the dialog opens with the values from the page and shows no message. It reports the problem only after you click Save.

After a conflict the dialog stays open and keeps the version it read, so a second click on Save fails the same way. Close the dialog. Then click Edit again.

The Settings grid raises the project's version on every change without a page reload. After you change a setting, the Product Owner controls, Move and Delete project report this conflict against your own change. Each reloads the page, so the second try works. Any change by anybody stops a deletion, and the page reloads. See Editing conflicts.

Somebody else can delete the project after the page loaded. Edit, the Product Owner controls, Move and Delete project then each answer Project not found. as an error line. The page does not reload itself.

The Teams controls carry no version, so they never report this conflict. They still refuse a team that another tab assigned first, and a team that somebody deleted meanwhile. The Teams section gives both.

Related topics

• Project settings — the settings grid, phases, item types, epics and the Definition of Done.
• The Product Backlog — the Product Backlog behind the first link on the screen.
• Sprints — what a sprint needs from the project before it can start.
• Portfolios — where projects are filed and moved.