Learn how to use JQL to flexibly link Jira work with a Meisterplan project.

• Putting Together Strategic Projects with JQL
• What is JQL?
• Examples
• Single Jira Projects, Epics, Releases or Sprints
• Issues Tagged with a Label or Theme
• Issues with a Certain Status
• Issues of a Certain Type
• Issues with a Specific Custom Field Value
• Issues from Jira Next-Gen Projects
• Combined Queries
• Tips

Putting Together Strategic Projects with JQL

In strategic planning, it is helpful to combine many Jira work packages into one Meisterplan project. For example, several epics or all Jira issues that are tagged with a specific theme or label.

Additionally, for better resource management and realistic forecasts, it's important to package those Jira issues into a Meisterplan project which is assigned to the same people who are assigned to the Jira issues.

So in order to use the full potential of Meisterplan for Jira, you need a tool for the flexible packaging of Jira issues when importing new or linking existing Meisterplan projects.

What is JQL?

JQL (Jira Query Language) is ideally suited for the flexible combination of Jira issues into strategic projects. It lets you formulate search queries that exactly match your Jira configuration and organizational structure. For example, if you want to select all issues that belong to the epic "Project Atlantis" and will be worked on by Team Green, simply enter the following query:

That sounds a bit technical at first, but thanks to the auto-completion function available in Jira, you can quickly learn to formulate the right queries and then benefit from the extensive possibilities offered by JQL.

Examples

If you've just become familiar with JQL, you can learn how to formulate simple search queries here. More detailed documentation for JQL can be found in the Jira online documentation, and the Jira experts in your company (for example, project managers or Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches) can probably show you a few tricks.

Single Jira Projects, Epics, Releases or Sprints

For simple queries, you only need to specify what you are looking for, and then the name. For example, you can search for all the issues that are part of a specific epic:

"Epic Link" = "Project Atlantis"

You can search for issues in projects, releases, or sprints according to the same principle. However, it is a good idea to only display issues of the "story" type, so that bugs, improvements, and subtasks are not part of the result:

"Project" = "Software Development" AND "Issuetype" = "Story"

All stories in a specific Jira release:

"Release" = "1" AND "Issuetype" = "Story"

All stories in a specific Jira sprint:

"Sprint" = "Dev 1" AND "Issuetype" = "Story"

Issues Tagged with a Label or Theme

Themes or labels are often used to identify related business goals across teams and projects. This allows you to search for all the issues that belong to a particular theme:

"Theme" = "Retention Rate"

It works the same for labels:

"Label" = "Legacy Support"

Issues with a Certain Status

It is often helpful to link Meisterplan projects with issues that have a certain status. For example, you will search for all issues that already have effort estimates and are ready for implementation:

"Status" = "Ready for Development"

Issues of a Certain Type

Maybe the development's teams' bugs and improvements are planned using fixed capacity, but for strategic planning, you are only interested in the stories, so you can search for a specific issue type: 

"Issuetype" = "Story"

Issues with a Specific Custom Field Value

All user-defined fields (e.g., for initiatives, themes, or teams) can also be searched via JQL.

For example, you can use the following JQL query to search for all backlog issues for Team Green:

"Team" = "Green"

You can also search for issues in epics that belong to a particular Jira initiative:

"Initiative" = "Cloud-Readiness 2019"

Issues from Jira Next-Gen Projects

To search for all issues in epics from Jira next-gen projects, use the following query:

"parent" = "Project Atlantis"

Please note that in Jira next-gen, issues in epics are searched using the "parent" keyword. In Jira classic projects, the "Epic Link" keyword is used instead.

Combined Queries

To get the most out of JQL, combine multiple keywords into a refined search query. For example, you can search for all the stories to be worked on by Team Green that are part of your company's Cloud-Readiness initiative:

"Issuetype" = "Story" AND "Team" = "Green" AND "Initiative" = "Cloud-Readiness 2019"

Tips

• To search for all issues included in an epic, use the term "Epic Link" in your query. Using "issue" would only return the epic.
• When creating a high level plan with Meisterplan for Jira, it's not typically necessary to search for sub-tasks. However, if your company's Jira setup requires this, we recommend consulting the Jira online documentation.