Jira Advanced Roadmaps are one of the most successful tools for scaling Agile across numerous teams while maintaining visibility and alignment. It creates a shared roadmap layer across different Jira projects, allowing cross-team planning, scenario modeling, and dependency resolution, all within the same application.
- Create Multi-Project Plans with Shared Initiatives. - Start by creating initiatives (or higher-level epics) that span many Jira projects. Assign these to a plan so that you may combine work from multiple teams and connect it with larger goals. This lays the groundwork for collaborative backlog planning across teams.
- Define and visualize cross-team dependencies. - Use the "Blocked By" and "Relates To" issue connection types to connect stories or epics across teams. Turn on dependency lines in the roadmap view to see blocks, pending tasks, and sequencing concerns. This aids in the early detection of cross-team delivery bottlenecks.
- Align on Shared Iterations and Cadences - Use shared sprint timeframes among teams by assigning each team a synchronized cadence in the Advanced Roadmaps plan options. This supports accurate forecasting and true multi-team sprint planning for tasks such as Program Increments (PI).
- Use Team Capacity Management for feasibility checks. - Assign teams to the plan and determine their velocity or hours for each sprint. Jira Advanced Roadmaps can graphically highlight over-allocations or unattainable delivery dates, allowing you to rebalance stories or transfer work across sprints with realistic expectations.
- Enable Scenario Planning to Model Alternatives. - Sandboxed "What-If" planning allows you to investigate many scenarios for how work might unfold if teams gain greater capacity, dependencies move, or priorities change. Once verified, you may commit the changes to Jira with a single click.
- Set the roll-up status for initiative-level tracking. - As child epics and tales grow, roll-up progress indicators allow product managers and leadership to view cumulative completion percentages. This facilitates high-level planning without becoming bogged down in ticket-level minutiae.
- Embed Roadmaps in Confluence for Cross-Team Visibility - After you have configured your roadmap, use the Roadmap macro to embed it into a Confluence page. This enables stakeholders, business users, and leadership to track delivery plans without requiring access to all Jira boards.
Jira Advanced Roadmaps is designed for scaled Agile environments like SAFe, LeSS, and customized Agile-at-scale models. It promotes openness and structure across teams while maintaining the flexibility of Agile delivery, making it excellent for coordinating complex product efforts and backlog dependencies.
