Custom issue types

Most work trackers start with a few standard item types such as task, bug and story. Custom issue types let you add your own, each with its own fields and behaviour. A marketing team might create a "Campaign" type with fields for channel, budget owner and launch date, while an operations team might create an "Incident" type with a severity field. Jira is one example of a tool that offers this.

A generic task cannot capture everything that matters for every kind of work, so teams end up cramming details into free-text descriptions that nobody can filter or report on. Separate types make reports meaningful, because you can count campaigns or incidents on their own. You need this once different teams share one tool and track different kinds of work. A small team doing a single kind of work can usually manage with the standard types and a few labels.

• Ask whether custom types can have their own fields, screens and workflows, or only a different name and icon.
• Check whether admins or ordinary users can create a type, and whether it needs an administrator each time.
• Test whether reports and filters can be limited to a single custom type.
• Ask what happens to existing items if a type is later changed or removed.