Welcome to Shortcut! Forget the unnecessary complication and overwhelming headache of Jira and instead work effectively using the features you need in Shortcut. Use the handy Jira-to-Shortcut translations below to help guide you through the transition.
For more information on the Shortcut Hierarchy and how to best set up your workspace, check out The Shortcut Hierarchy. Also, keep in mind you can easily import your data from Jira to Shortcut using our importer tool. Learn more here.
A Story represents an individual piece of work to be completed in a Workflow, which can be broken down with subtasks.
Stories are the fundamental units of work in the Shortcut heirarchy. The Shortcut Story simplifies the Jira system with less configuration and less confusion. A Story should be an indivual piece of work that takes 1-2 days to complete (no longer than a week or two). If a Story is larger than this we recommend breaking it down into several Stories and using Story relationships to relate the Stories to each other. Learn more about how to set up and use Stories here.
Tasks are binary entities within Stories and work like checklists. Tasks live within the Story as a list of items to be completed on the Story.
Tasks in Shortcut are meant to help you create a checklist and remind you of the items that need to be done in order to complete the Story, assign the steps to owners, and in general, help outline what goes into a Story in order to complete it. Tasks in Shortcut aren't individual Stories or Issues like they are in Jira. To make sure you are using Tasks efficiently, a good rule of thumb is that a Task shouldn't take more than an hour to complete. If it will take longer, you should consider making it a Story and relating it to the Story rather than having it as a Task on the Story. Learn more about Tasks here.
An Epic is a collection of Stories representing a larger body of work or feature.
In Shortcut, an Epic is a distinct object or large goal, not an Issue Type, which makes it easier to organize and view your work. With Jira, there are too many options and ways to organize, as there are Epic Issue types and Projects to be used as well. It is a messier and more cumbersome way to keep track of feature work. In Jira, Epics are confined to a Project, but in Shortcut, Epics can span multiple Workflows and even Teams as needed. Learn more about Epics here.
A Milestone is a collection of Epics representing a larger initiative with a common goal and is the highest level of organizational hierarchy in Shortcut.
Milestones are high-level company goals. They represent the big projects that have the highest impact on the business. Having another layer of hierarchy makes it easier to track higher-level progress, which makes it easier for executives and anyone in need of a big-picture view to zoom out or dig in to the details as needed. This is also very useful for teams and individuals to know what goals they are working towards. The Shortcut Hierarchy provides visibility at all levels with clear links between Stories-->Epics-->Milestones. Learn more about Milestones here.
A Team represents a cross-functional squad, or any other group of Shortcut users who collectively own Stories, Epics, and Iterations.
Teams are core to organizational structure and are easily filterable. Teams are easy to set up and manage, allow you to add and customize workflows, and make it easy to view and edit the work that matters to you. Unlike Jira, Teams can simply be removed or changed from an entity as needed. Learn more about Teams here.
An Iteration is a time-boxed period of development for a collection of Stories that can span multiple Epics and Workflows, and can be used to track sprint cycles.
Iterations are an optional Shortcut feature for teams the run sprints, or some version of them. The Iteration page gives you a Burndown chart, Cycle Time/Lead Time Chart, and Cumulative Flow Diagram making it easy to track progress and get ahead of roadblocks. On the Stories page you can create a saved space for your current Iteration for an additional place to view Stories in each Iteration. Creating and linking Docs to your Iteration make planning, tracking, and completing Iteration seamless and all in one place. Learn more about best practices for running Iterations here.
Saved Spaces are filtered views of the Stories page. Filter by workflow, Team, quick filters, Iteration, and more.
Use Saved Spaces on the Stories page to create filtered views that show your work, your teams work, and any other customized board view you need. The Stories page can quickly toggle between workflows and filter on various dimensions, so there is no need to create siloed "Boards." Learn more about Saved Spaces.
A Workflow is a set of States customized by your organization as the process through which Stories and Epics move from creation to completion.
Workflows in Shortcut are much simpler than in Jira. Workflow editing is no longer a pain, and there is no need for a complicated "Workflow Designer". Shortcut Workflows are linear, but can still transition Workflow States based on VCS actions.
The Workflow and Team relationship is many-to-many. Teams are assigned as many Workflows as are needed and a Workflow can be assigned to numerous Teams. For example, all the Teams could use the same Engineering Workflow, or if needed, each could used a customized engineering Workflow. Different Story types do not have different Workflows. Overall, its easier to standardize Workflows across your organization. Learn more about Workflows here.
Docs is a documentation tool that allows you to seamlessly connect to your work and Docs, making it easy to plan, build, and ship new features.
Shortcut Docs are part of the Shortcut platform, unlike Confluence which is a separate tool from Jira. This distinction shows in the functionality. In Shortcut you don't need to jump from tool to tool but instead have all your work and Docs all in one tab. In Docs you can create and link Stories, Docs, Epics, Milestones and Iterations right from the Doc. Learn more about Docs here.
Want to download this info? Check out the Shortcut to Jira PDF one-sheeter.
