When using Jira, you will surely encounter lots of new keywords that are used contextually and their meaning might not be clear right away.
This article is written exactly for that reason and I’ll explain the difference between a project and a board.
Definitions
To find out the difference between the two, we must first define them:
Project: is a collection of issues (source)
Board: is a part of a project and displays issues from one or more projects (source)
Difference
From the above definitions it can be derived, that a project is some kind of a “folder” or a “group” that issues belong to, whereas a board is a display type, or in other words a place, where the issues can be displayed.
Changes in 2025
In 2025 Atlassian team changed the terminology in Jira which might come sudden to a long-time Jira user. Nothing to be afraid of, you can quickly get used to it. Here is what is changing:
- “issue” -> becomes “work item“. So if you used to say “My manager assigned me 21 issues – oh, can you imagine, so much work!“. From 2025 on you’ll say “My manager assigned me 21 work items, thanks god I still have a job in this economy!“
- “project” -> becomes “space“. The reason for this change is to make Jira available for more teams. For a long time the word “project” had insinuated something with a start date, end date, hierarchy and clear scope. But the way we work as we know it has changed and is evolving – so the tools must as well. This is why “space” term will be used and it should insinuate something like “a container of work.
Sources
- https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/defining-a-project-938847066.html#:~:text=A%20Jira%20project%20is%20a,of%20you%20and%20your%20team.
- https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver/what-is-a-board-938845235.html#:~:text=A%20board%20displays%20issues%20from,of%20boards%20in%20Jira%20Software%3A&text=Kanban%20board%20%E2%80%94%20for%20teams%20that,constraining%20their%20work%2Din%2Dprogress
- https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/It-s-here-Work-is-the-new-collective-term-for-all-items-you/ba-p/2954892
- https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/Evolving-Jira-terminology-Projects-will-soon-be-Spaces/ba-p/3034977
Image credits: geralt