Manage a Brand Campaign in Jira

Structure a real brand campaign as an Agile Scrum project in Jira.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every brand campaign involves juggling research, strategy, content creation, and stakeholder deadlines. Hiring managers want to see that you can organize this chaos using professional tools, not just spreadsheets and sticky notes.

In this project, you will take one of your real university brand experiences and structure it as a professionally managed Agile project in Jira. You'll build a complete product backlog, run a sprint from start to finish, and generate reports that prove you can manage projects using industry-standard tools.

What You'll Build

A complete Jira Scrum project that structures one of your real brand experiences as an Agile campaign, with a full sprint cycle and professional reports you can show hiring managers.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A Jira Scrum project with a customized board and structured product backlog containing epics, user stories, and story points.
A completed sprint with tasks moved through the full workflow from planning to done.
Portfolio-ready screenshots and interview talking points drawn from your burndown chart and sprint report.
Secret Mission: Build a Kanban board for BD outreach pipeline tracking, demonstrating knowledge of multiple Agile methodologies.

Are there any prerequisites?

None. This guide walks you through setting up everything you need, including your free Jira Cloud account. All you need is a web browser and an email address.

Set Up Your Jira Cloud Account

Every professional project manager needs a tool to plan, track, and deliver work. Jira is the most widely used project management platform in the industry, appearing on more PM job postings than any other tool.

In this step, you'll create a free Jira Cloud account and set up a Scrum project for your brand campaign. By the end, you'll have a live workspace with a board, backlog, and timeline ready to populate with real campaign tasks.

In this step, get ready to:

Create your free Atlassian account and Jira site.
Set up a Scrum project for your brand campaign.
Verify your board, backlog, and timeline views are accessible.

Create your Atlassian account and Jira site

Jira Cloud runs in your browser. You'll create a free Atlassian account and claim a personal site URL that becomes your workspace.

Open your web browser and navigate to the Jira free signup page:
https://www.atlassian.com/try/cloud/signup?bundle=jira-software&edition=free
Click Sign up and enter your email address.
Check your inbox for a verification code from Atlassian.
Enter the verification code on the signup page to confirm your email.
Choose a site name when prompted. This becomes your personal Jira URL (e.g., yourname.atlassian.net). Use something professional like your name or initials.
Select Jira when asked what you want to manage.

Why is Jira free?

Jira Cloud's Free plan supports up to 10 users with no time limit and no payment information required. It includes Scrum and Kanban boards, backlogs, timelines, reports, and dashboards. Everything you need for this project is covered.

Verification code not arriving?

Check your spam or junk folder. The email comes from Atlassian and may take 1-2 minutes to arrive. If it still does not appear, click the resend option on the signup page.

help me troubleshoot my Jira signup verification code

Create a Scrum project

Now that your site is live, you'll create a Scrum project. Jira organises work inside spaces (formerly called projects). You'll choose the Scrum template, which gives you sprint-based workflow tools.

In the left sidebar, hover over Spaces and click Create space.
Select the Scrum template from the available options.
Choose Team-managed as the space type.
Name your space after your brand campaign (e.g., FoodCycle Campaign or TCS Market Research).
Leave the default work types and statuses as they are for now.
Click Create to set up your board.

What is a team-managed space?

Jira offers two space types. Team-managed spaces give you full control over your own configuration without needing a Jira administrator. They are simpler to set up and ideal for individual or small-team use.

Company-managed spaces are designed for larger organisations that need standardised processes across multiple teams. For this project, team-managed is the right choice.

Pick a real brand experience

Name your space after a genuine campaign you worked on (e.g., your FoodCycle, TCS, or Dolce & Gabbana project). This makes it personally meaningful and something you can genuinely discuss in interviews.

Not seeing the Create space option?

If you just created your account, Jira may still be loading your initial setup. Refresh the page and look for the Spaces section in the left sidebar. The Create space option appears when you hover over it or at the top of the Spaces list page.

help me find the Create space button in Jira Cloud

Verify your setup

Before moving on, confirm that your project has all three key views accessible. These are the tools you'll use throughout this project.

Confirm you can see your project board with columns: To Do, In Progress, and Done.
Click Backlog in the left sidebar to confirm the backlog view is accessible.
Click Timeline in the left sidebar to confirm the timeline view is available.

What are these three views for?

The Board shows your current sprint's tasks moving across columns as work progresses. The Backlog is where you store and prioritise all upcoming work before assigning it to a sprint.

The Timeline displays your work as a visual roadmap, making it easy to see how tasks relate to each other over time.

Your Jira workspace is ready to go. Next up, you'll fill that empty backlog with epics and user stories that break your campaign into manageable, trackable pieces of work.

Build Your Product Backlog

Your Jira project is set up and ready for content. Right now your board and backlog are empty. A blank backlog is like a blank to-do list before a big event.

In this step, you'll populate your product backlog with the work items that represent your real brand campaign. You'll organise everything into epics, write user stories, and estimate effort using story points.

In this step, get ready to:

Create 3 epics representing major campaign phases.
Write user stories under each epic using the standard Agile format.
Assign story points and priority to every user story.

Create epics for your campaign phases

Epics are large bodies of work that group related tasks together. Think of them as the major chapters of your campaign. You'll create three epics that mirror how a real brand campaign progresses from research through to delivery.

In the left sidebar of your project, click Backlog.
On the Backlog page, click View settings (the gear icon near the top).
Toggle on the Epic panel. A panel appears on the left side of your backlog.
In the Epic panel, click + Create Epic.
Name your first epic Research & Discovery.
Add a short description, for example: "Market analysis, competitor research, audience profiling."
Create a second epic called Strategy & Planning with a description like: "Campaign brief, channel selection, budget planning."
Create a third epic called Execution & Delivery with a description like: "Content creation, stakeholder presentations, launch."

What are epics?

An epic is a large piece of work that contains multiple smaller tasks (called user stories). In Agile project management, epics help you group related work so you can track progress at a high level.

Your three epics represent the natural flow of a brand campaign: first you research, then you plan, then you execute. This structure mirrors how real agencies and in-house teams break down projects.

You should now see three epics listed in the Epic panel on the left side of your backlog.

Don't see the Epic panel?

Make sure you clicked View settings and toggled on Epic panel. If you still don't see it, try refreshing the page.

Help me find the Epic panel in my Jira backlog

Write user stories for each epic

User stories describe work from the perspective of the person who benefits from it. They follow a standard format that keeps everyone focused on outcomes rather than just tasks.

The format is: "As a [role], I want [goal], so that [benefit]."

In the Epic panel, click on your Research & Discovery epic to select it.
Click + Create issue in the backlog area.
Set the issue type to Story.
Enter a title using the user story format. For example: As a project manager, I want to complete a competitor analysis, so that we can identify market gaps for the client.
Press Enter or click Create to save the story.
Repeat this process to create 3-4 stories under Research & Discovery.

Example stories for each epic

Here are examples to inspire your own stories. Adapt them to match your specific brand campaign experience.

Research & Discovery:

"As a project manager, I want to complete a competitor analysis, so that we can identify market gaps for the client."
"As a research lead, I want to profile our target audience, so that campaign messaging resonates with the right people."
"As a BD associate, I want to map industry trends, so that our campaign leverages current market momentum."

Strategy & Planning:

"As a campaign lead, I want to create a content calendar, so that deliverables are scheduled and trackable."
"As a strategist, I want to write the campaign brief, so that all team members align on objectives and KPIs."
"As a project manager, I want to select distribution channels, so that we reach our target audience efficiently."

Execution & Delivery:

"As a BD associate, I want to prepare a client presentation deck, so that stakeholders can approve the campaign direction."
"As a content creator, I want to produce campaign assets, so that the launch has professional visual materials."
"As a project manager, I want to coordinate the launch sequence, so that all deliverables go live on schedule."

Now select the Strategy & Planning epic in the Epic panel and create 3-4 stories under it.
Select the Execution & Delivery epic and create 3-4 stories under it.

Your backlog should now contain 9-12 user stories total, each linked to one of your three epics.

Use your real experience

Write stories based on your actual brand campaign work (FoodCycle, TCS, Dolce & Gabbana, or whichever project you choose). Real stories are far more powerful in interviews than generic examples because you can speak to specific decisions you made.

Stories not appearing under the right epic?

Make sure you selected the correct epic in the Epic panel before clicking + Create issue. If a story ended up unlinked, hover over it in the backlog, click the More actions menu (the three dots), then select Add parent and choose the correct epic.

Help me link my story to the right epic

Add story points and priority

Story points measure how much effort a task will take relative to other tasks. Priority tells you which tasks matter most. Together, they help you plan realistic sprints.

Click on any user story in your backlog to open its detail view.
Find the Story point estimate field. If you don't see it, check that Estimation is enabled in your project settings (Project settings > Features > toggle on Estimation).
Enter a story point value using this scale:

1 = trivial (a quick task anyone could do in minutes).
2 = small (straightforward, low complexity).
3 = medium (requires focused effort and some decisions).
5 = large (significant research or creative work).
8 = complex (multiple dependencies, could take days).

Find the Priority field and select a level: Highest, High, Medium, Low, or Lowest.
In the Description field, write 1-2 sentences of acceptance criteria explaining what "done" looks like. For example: "Competitor analysis covers at least 3 direct competitors with positioning, pricing, and channel strategy documented."
Close the story detail view and repeat this for every user story in your backlog.

What are story points?

Story points are a relative measure of effort. They don't map to hours. A 5-point story isn't necessarily five hours of work. It just means it takes roughly twice the effort of a 3-point story.

Teams use this approach because humans are better at comparing relative difficulty than estimating exact time. In interviews, you can explain this distinction to demonstrate genuine Agile understanding.

What are acceptance criteria?

Acceptance criteria define what "done" means for a user story. They prevent scope creep by making it clear when work is finished. A story without acceptance criteria can drag on indefinitely because nobody agreed on the finish line.

Confirm that every story in your backlog has a story point value, a priority level, and acceptance criteria in the description. Your Epic panel should show 3 epics, each containing 3-4 stories.

Can't find the Story point estimate field?

In team-managed projects, the estimation field is called Story point estimate. You need to enable it first.

Click Project settings in the left sidebar.
Select Features.
Toggle on Estimation and make sure Story Points is selected as the statistic.
Return to your backlog and open a story. The field should now appear.

Help me enable story points in my Jira project

Your product backlog is now structured and prioritised. Next up, you'll pull stories into a sprint and simulate executing real work against deadlines.

Plan and Run Your First Sprint

Your backlog is stocked with well-structured user stories, each sized with story points and ranked by priority. Now it's time to put that planning into action.

In Scrum, work happens in short, focused time-boxes called sprints. You'll select a handful of stories from your backlog, commit to finishing them in a set timeframe, and then move each story across the board as work progresses.

In this step, get ready to:

Create and start your first sprint with a clear goal.
Execute the sprint by moving stories through the workflow.
Complete the sprint and review the results.

Create and plan Sprint 1

A sprint starts with a planning decision. You choose which stories to commit to and set a goal that gives your team a shared target for the week.

In your Jira project, click Backlog in the left sidebar.
Click Create sprint at the top of your backlog list.
Drag 4-5 user stories from your backlog into the new Sprint 1 section.
Aim for roughly 13-15 story points total, which simulates a realistic sprint capacity.
Click Start sprint next to the Sprint 1 header.

A dialog will appear asking you to set the sprint details.

Set the duration to 1 week.
In the Sprint goal field, enter a goal such as Complete research phase and draft campaign brief.
Click Start.

Your sprint is now active. The stories you selected move onto the Board view.

What is a sprint goal?

A sprint goal is a short statement describing the single most important outcome your team wants to achieve during the sprint. It keeps everyone aligned when deciding which tasks to prioritise and helps stakeholders understand what to expect at the end of the time-box.

Picking stories for your sprint

Choose stories that form a logical group. For example, if your goal is "complete the research phase", pull in stories from your Research & Discovery epic first. This mirrors how real Scrum teams plan around a cohesive theme.

Execute the sprint by moving issues through the workflow

With the sprint running, you simulate day-to-day work by moving stories across the board columns. Each column represents a stage in your workflow.

Click Board in the left sidebar to switch to the Board view.
Drag 2 stories from the To Do column to the In Progress column.
Drag 1 of those stories from In Progress to the Done column.

Now add a comment on one of the stories to record progress, just like you would in a real sprint.

Click on any story card in the Done column to open it.
Scroll down to the Activity section at the bottom of the issue detail panel.
Type a comment describing what was accomplished (e.g., Completed competitor analysis - identified 3 key market gaps).
Click Save.
Close the issue detail panel and continue moving remaining stories through the workflow until at least 3-4 are in Done.

Why add comments to stories?

Comments create a paper trail of decisions and accomplishments. In a real team, they help colleagues pick up context quickly. For your portfolio, they show hiring managers that you understand documentation as part of delivery.

Stories not appearing on the board?

Make sure you started the sprint. In a team-managed Scrum project, the board only shows stories after the sprint is started. Return to Backlog and confirm Sprint 1 is marked as active.

If stories still don't appear, check that you dragged them into the sprint section before clicking Start sprint. Why aren't my stories showing on my Jira board after starting the sprint?

Complete the sprint

Once your stories are done (or the sprint time-box ends), you formally close the sprint. This triggers Jira to generate reports and log the results.

From the Board view, click Complete sprint in the top right corner.
If any stories remain in To Do or In Progress, Jira will ask what to do with them.
Select Move to Backlog for any incomplete stories.
Click Complete to confirm.

Jira displays a sprint completion summary showing how many stories were completed versus how many carried over.

What is sprint carry-over?

In real Scrum teams, not every story finishes on time. Incomplete work moves back to the backlog so it can be re-prioritised in the next sprint. This is normal and expected. Tracking carry-over helps teams improve their estimation accuracy over time.

Don't see the Complete sprint button?

Make sure you are on the Board view, not the Backlog view. In team-managed projects, the Complete sprint button appears on the board.

Also confirm that at least one story has been moved into the Done column. Jira requires the Done column to be the rightmost column on your board for stories to count as completed. Help me find the Complete sprint button in my Jira team-managed project.

You've just completed a full sprint cycle. Next up, you'll analyse your sprint data and build portfolio-ready evidence from your reports.

Analyse Your Sprint and Build Your Portfolio Piece

You have completed a full sprint cycle, with stories delivered and carry-over items logged back to the backlog.

Hiring managers want to see concrete evidence that you can use Agile tools to track delivery. In this step, you will pull reports from your sprint, capture portfolio screenshots, and write interview-ready talking points.

In this step, get ready to:

Review your sprint burndown chart and velocity report.
Capture screenshots of your board, backlog, and timeline for your portfolio.
Write 2-3 interview talking points and save them in Jira.

Review your sprint reports

Jira generates reports automatically from your sprint data. These give you metrics you can reference in interviews to demonstrate data-driven project management.

Click Reports in the left sidebar of your project.
Click Sprint burndown chart to open it.

What is a burndown chart?

A burndown chart shows the amount of work completed in a sprint and the total work remaining. It helps predict whether the team will finish on time.

The grey line shows ideal steady progress trending to zero. The coloured line shows actual remaining work. Gaps between these lines reveal where the team fell behind or caught up.

Go back to Reports by clicking it again in the left sidebar.
Click Velocity report to open it.
Note your velocity (the total story points completed in Sprint 1). Write this number down for your talking points later.

What is velocity?

Velocity is the total number of story points your team completed in a sprint. It helps predict how much work the team can handle in future sprints.

In interviews, referencing your velocity shows you understand capacity planning. For example: "Our sprint velocity was 13 points, so I scoped the next sprint accordingly."

Don't see the Reports tab?

In team-managed projects, the Reports tab may need to be enabled first. Click the + (Add to navigation) icon in the left sidebar, find Reports, and click Add to navigation.

If your burndown chart appears empty, make sure your completed sprint had story points assigned to the stories. Reports only display data when issues were moved to the rightmost column on your board.

Help me find my sprint reports in Jira

Capture portfolio evidence

Screenshots of your Jira project become tangible proof of your Agile skills. You can include these in job applications, portfolios, or pull them up during interviews.

Click Board in the left sidebar.
Take a screenshot of the board showing your completed sprint items in the Done column.
Click Reports in the left sidebar and open the Sprint burndown chart again.
Take a screenshot of the burndown chart.
Click Backlog in the left sidebar.
Take a screenshot showing your organised epics and stories.
Click Timeline in the left sidebar.
Take a screenshot of the timeline view showing your project roadmap.

Name your screenshots clearly

Save each file with a descriptive name like jira-burndown-chart.png or jira-board-sprint-complete.png. This makes them easy to find when preparing for interviews.

Write your interview talking points

Concrete talking points help you articulate your PM experience clearly. Writing them now, while the project is fresh, ensures you capture the right details.

Write 2-3 bullet points summarising your Agile project management experience from this project.

What should my talking points sound like?

Adapt these examples to match your own brand campaign and numbers:

"I structured a [brand name] campaign using Agile Scrum methodology in Jira, managing [X] user stories across [Y] epics."
"I ran sprint planning sessions and tracked velocity to ensure on-time delivery."
"I used burndown charts and sprint reports to identify and resolve bottlenecks."

Replace the placeholders in square brackets with your real numbers. Specificity makes your answers stand out.

Click Backlog in the left sidebar.
Click on your Research & Discovery epic to open its detail panel.
Scroll down to the activity section at the bottom of the epic detail.
Click in the comment field and paste your 2-3 talking points.
Click Save to store the comment.

Why save talking points as a comment?

Storing your talking points directly in Jira keeps them alongside the work they describe. When you share your Jira board with a hiring manager or reference it during an interview, your preparation notes are right there.

Confirm your comment appears under the Research & Discovery epic. You should see your 2-3 bullet points displayed in the activity feed.

Don't see the comment field?

Make sure you have opened the full epic detail view, not just the backlog row. Click the epic name directly to expand its detail panel. The comment field is at the bottom of this panel under the activity section.

Help me add a comment to my Jira epic

Secret mission

Create a BD Outreach Kanban Board

You've proven you can run a Scrum sprint. Now apply a different Agile methodology to a business development use case. Create a Kanban board that tracks prospect outreach through a full sales pipeline, giving you TWO portfolio pieces that demonstrate fluency in multiple Agile frameworks.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on Jira Cloud's Free plan, so there are no ongoing costs. Decide whether to keep your resources running, pause them to come back later, or delete them entirely.

Resources you used:

Jira Scrum project (your brand campaign project).
Jira Kanban project (BD Outreach Pipeline).
Atlassian account and Jira Cloud site.
Portfolio screenshots saved locally.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you plan to keep building on your Jira projects, adding more sprints, or referencing your boards in interviews.

Your Jira projects, backlog, and reports stay exactly as you left them.
Your Atlassian account remains active on the Free plan with no charges.
Your portfolio screenshots remain on your local machine.

Inactive site deactivation

Atlassian reserves the right to deactivate Free Jira Cloud sites due to inactivity. Log in occasionally to keep your site active.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Since Jira Cloud's Free plan has no running costs, there is nothing to pause or shut down. Your site stays live at no charge until you return.

Bookmark your Jira site URL so you can find it easily later.
Log in at least once every few months to prevent Atlassian from deactivating your site due to inactivity.
Keep your portfolio screenshots backed up somewhere accessible (cloud drive, USB, etc.).

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources completely. Follow each step below.

Delete your Jira Scrum project: In Jira, click the gear icon in the top right to open Settings. Select Projects. Find your Scrum project, click More actions (...), then select Move to trash. Confirm by clicking Move.
Delete your Kanban project: Repeat the same process for your BD Outreach Pipeline project.
Permanently delete from Trash (optional): Go to Settings > Projects > Trash. Find each project, click More actions (...), then select Delete permanently. Projects left in Trash are automatically deleted after 60 days.
Delete your Atlassian account: Go to id.atlassian.com/manage-profile. Select Account preferences. Scroll to the Delete your account section and select Delete account. Confirm in the dialog. Your account will be deactivated for 14 days and then permanently deleted.
Delete your local screenshots: Remove the portfolio screenshot files from your computer if you no longer need them.

Nice Work!

You've just built a professional Agile project in Jira, complete with a structured backlog, a finished sprint, and portfolio-ready reports you can reference in any PM or BD interview.

You've learned how to:

Build a structured product backlog with epics, user stories, story points, and priorities in Jira.
Plan and execute a complete Scrum sprint cycle from planning through completion and review.
Generate and interpret Agile reports including burndown charts and sprint reports to measure project velocity.
Secret Mission: Created a Kanban board for BD pipeline tracking, demonstrating knowledge of multiple Agile methodologies.

Ready to quiz yourself?