How to Add Initiatives in Jira

Quick summary

Jira does not include an Initiative issue type by default, but you can add one manually through the Issues settings and assign it to a project via an issue type scheme. Once configured, Initiatives let teams group Epics under a single higher-level objective for better program-level planning.

Steps

1. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open Jira settings.
2. Select Issues from the settings menu.
3. Click Add Issue Type to create a new issue type.
4. Name it Initiative, select the Standard Issue Type, and click Add.
5. Once saved, navigate to Issue type schemes.
6. Locate the issue type scheme for the project you want Initiatives in and click the ellipsis icon.
7. Click Edit to open the scheme for editing.
8. Drag the Initiative issue type into the current scheme to add it.
9. Click Save to apply your changes.
10. Click Create to verify the Initiative issue type is available.
11. Select Initiative from the issue type dropdown to confirm it appears correctly.
12. You can now use Initiatives to group Epics under a higher-level objective in larger projects or programs.