What is a work item?
Different organizations use Jira to track different kinds of work items, which can represent anything from a software bug, to a project task, or a leave request form.
Work items are the building blocks of Jira. A work item could represent a story, a bug, a task, or another work type in your space.
If you're a space admin, select More [], then Configure to change the layout of fields in the work item.
You can see related commits, builds, and pull requests to help you evaluate the development status of your work item. Read more about development info on a work item.
Boards can display up to 5,000 work items at a time. If your board is trying to display more than 5,000 work items at once, you'll receive an error message, and be prompted to update your filters.
Space and work item keys
Work item keys
Work item keys are unique identifiers for every piece of work you track with Jira. They are easily recognizable and quick to remember.
You'll see keys:
On work items themselves, as a label
In search results and saved filters
On cards on your boards or in a backlog
In links connecting pieces of work
In the work item’s URL
Anywhere you need to reference the work you're tracking
Work item keys are made up of two parts:
The space key (“SMART” in the screenshot above)
A sequential number
Space keys
Space keys are a series of alphanumberic characters that describe to people across your Jira site what pieces of work are related to your space. They're the most memorable and recognizable piece of a work item’s identifier. For example, our team is codenamed Donut World. We use the space key "DONUT" to help people across Atlassian know and recognize work that relates to our team.
Space admins can create and assign their space’s key when they create a new space. Based on the space’s name, Jira suggests a recognizable key. If you're a space admin, you can customize this while creating a space by selecting Advanced options. You can also update it in the space’s settings. They must be at least 2 characters long and start with an uppercase letter.
Read more about editing a space's details
If you have admin permissions, you can configure work items, create new work types, manage custom fields, and more.
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