jira orchestration workflow

Jira Orchestration Workflow

Execute 6-phase protocol for coordinating Jira-based development work with multi-agent orchestration.

When to Use

Starting work on Jira issues (Bug, Story, Task, Epic)
Automating development workflows
Tracking progress and linking commits/PRs
Coordinating multi-agent work

The 6-Phase Protocol

EXPLORE → PLAN → CODE → TEST → FIX → COMMIT

Each phase must complete validation gates before proceeding.

Phase 1: EXPLORE

Fetch issue details, acceptance criteria, linked issues
Analyze affected codebase areas and dependencies
Agents: requirements-analyzer, dependency-mapper
Outputs: Issue analysis, affected files, dependency map, risk assessment
Jira: Transition to "In Progress", add analysis comment, log effort

Phase 2: PLAN

Design solution, break into subtasks, create task DAG
Plan file changes, define success criteria
Agents (by type): Bug→triage-agent; Story→requirements-analyzer; Task→task-enricher; Epic→epic-decomposer
Outputs: Implementation plan, test plan, rollback strategy
Jira: Create sub-tasks, add plan comment, update estimate

Phase 3: CODE

Execute DAG tasks in parallel
Implement changes, add docs and error handling
Agents (by tech): Frontend→requirements-analyzer; Backend→requirements-analyzer; DevOps→infrastructure-orchestrator
Outputs: Code changes, configs, migration scripts
Jira: Add progress comments, log time spent, flag blockers

Phase 4: TEST

Run unit/integration/E2E tests, verify acceptance criteria
Agents: test-strategist, qa-ticket-reviewer, test-strategist
Outputs: Test results, coverage, performance metrics
Jira: Add test results, attach reports
Failure: Return to FIX, do NOT complete issue

Phase 5: FIX

Debug failures, address code review feedback
Re-run tests until passing (max 3 iterations before escalation)
Agents: hypothesis-debugger, review-orchestrator, code-quality-enforcer
Loop: Return to TEST after fixes

Phase 6: COMMIT

Create PR with issue key, link to Jira, request review
Format: [ISSUE-KEY] description\n\nResolves: ISSUE-KEY
Agents: commit-orchestrator, pr-creator, documentation-hub
Jira: Add PR link, transition to "In Review"

Agent Selection

Issue Type Primary Secondary

Bug triage-agent, hypothesis-debugger root-cause-analyzer, test-strategist

Story requirements-analyzer, code-architect requirements-analyzer

Task task-enricher technology-specific

Epic epic-decomposer split into stories first

Spike requirements-analyzer, requirements-analyzer domain experts

By Technology: Frontend→react-specialist; Backend→api-specialist; DevOps→infrastructure-orchestrator; Mobile→mobile-developer

By Priority: Blocker→triage-agent + escalate; Critical→senior agents + extended thinking; High→standard selection; Medium/Low→optimize for efficiency

Blocker Handling

Mark blocker when: Missing requirements, dependencies, technical limits, security concerns, breaking changes.

Immediate: Add "Blocked" label, create detailed comment, link blocking issue, notify stakeholders.

Escalate when: Persists >4 hours, beyond agent authority, security vulnerability, breaking changes, customer impact, legal/compliance questions.

Process: Pause, document context, create Jira comment, tag humans, transition to "Waiting for Support".

Human Involvement

Always required: Security changes, breaking API/DB changes, infrastructure, customer-facing features, compliance.

Optional (post-review): Bug fixes, docs, tests, refactoring.

Progress Tracking

Update Jira at: Phase transitions, blockers, test failures, PR creation, hourly.

Status format:

Progress - Phase: [NAME]

Completed: [items]
In Progress: [items] (X%)
Blocked: [items] ([reason])
Next: [steps]
Time Spent: Xh Ym

Metrics: Velocity (story points/sprint), Cycle Time (In Progress→Done), Lead Time (creation→completion), Work Log (time/phase).

Best Practices

Never skip phases (critical validations at each)
Checkpoint between phases for recovery
Run independent tasks in parallel
Use 3-5 agents minimum, 13 maximum
Frequent Jira updates: comments, work logs, links, labels, components
Quality gates: All tests passing, >80% coverage, no vulnerabilities, docs updated, human review

Workflows by Issue Type

Bug: EXPLORE (reproduce)→PLAN (fix design)→CODE→TEST (add regression)→FIX→COMMIT Story: EXPLORE→PLAN (subtasks)→CODE (parallel)→TEST (E2E)→FIX→COMMIT Epic: Decompose into Stories, execute each Story workflow, integrate results

PR/Commit Format

PR Title: [ISSUE-KEY] Brief description

Commit:

[ISSUE-KEY] description

Changes:

item1
item2

Resolves: ISSUE-KEY

Branch: [type]/[issue-key]-[description] (e.g., feature/PROJ-123-auth)

Smart commits: [ISSUE-KEY] #comment text | #time 2h 30m | #transition In Review

Quality Gates

All tests passing (unit, integration, E2E)
Coverage >80%
No security vulnerabilities
No breaking changes (or documented)
Documentation updated
PR created and linked
Human review requested
Acceptance criteria met

Example: Bug Fix

Issue: PROJ-123 "Login timeout after 5 minutes"

Phase Activity Agents

EXPLORE Analyze auth code, identify JWT expiry requirements-analyzer, security-specialist

PLAN Design fix: extend expiry, fix cleanup triage-agent

CODE Update JWT config, implement refresh requirements-analyzer, security-specialist

TEST Unit/integration/manual tests test-strategist, qa-ticket-reviewer

FIX No fixes needed

COMMIT Create PR, link to PROJ-123 commit-orchestrator

Integration

Works with: jira (API), git-workflows (branches/PRs), orchestration-patterns (agent coordination), testing (test execution), debugging (root cause analysis).