| name | Create Jira Feature |
| description | Implementation guide for creating Jira features that organize multiple epics into strategic initiatives for SRVKP project |
Create Jira Feature
This skill provides implementation guidance for creating well-structured Jira features that organize related epics into strategic initiatives for the SRVKP project.
When to Use This Skill
This skill is automatically invoked by:
- The
/jira:create feature command
- The
create-epic skill when auto-suggesting parent Features
Prerequisites
- MCP Jira server configured and accessible, or
acli installed and authenticated
- User has permissions to create issues in SRVKP project
- Understanding of the feature scope and strategic value
Shared conventions (safety rules, component table, confirmation flow, MCP→CLI fallback):
→ Read and follow ../_common.md before proceeding.
CLI reference: ../reference/cli-fallback.md
Project: SRVKP Only
This skill is exclusively for SRVKP (OpenShift Pipelines project).
What is a Feature?
A feature is:
- A strategic initiative containing multiple related epics
- Spans multiple quarters or releases
- Addresses a market problem or significant capability area
- The highest level of work breakdown in the hierarchy
Feature vs Epic vs Story
| Level | Scope | Duration | Contains | Example |
|---|
| Feature | Strategic capability | Multiple quarters | Multiple Epics | "Tekton Chains Signing Enhancements" |
| Epic | Specific capability | One quarter | Multiple Stories | "Recursive Image Manifest signing" |
| Story | User functionality | One sprint | Tasks/Subtasks | "Sign multi-arch manifests automatically" |
Feature Characteristics
Features should:
- Address strategic objectives or market needs
- Be broader than an epic, narrower than a product roadmap item
- Span multiple quarters (2-4 quarters typical)
- Contain 2-10 related epics
- Have measurable outcomes tied to business value
Feature Description Best Practices
Clear Strategic Objective
The feature description should:
- State the strategic goal or market need
- Explain the business value
- Identify target users or market segments
- Define the overall capability area
Good example:
Expand Tekton Chains signing and attestation capabilities to support modern container image formats, multi-architecture workflows, and emerging supply chain security standards.
This feature addresses the growing need for comprehensive artifact signing in cloud-native CI/CD pipelines, enabling organizations to meet security compliance requirements and prevent supply chain attacks.
Target users: Platform engineers, Security teams, DevOps practitioners
Market need: Supply chain security compliance (SLSA, in-toto)
Strategic Outcomes
Feature-level outcomes should be measurable and tied to business value:
Format:
h2. Strategic Outcomes
* <Business outcome 1>
* <Business outcome 2>
* <Business outcome 3>
Example:
h2. Strategic Outcomes
* Organizations can meet SLSA Level 3 requirements for all artifact types
* Multi-architecture image workflows fully supported without manual configuration
* Signing coverage increased to 100% of build artifacts (up from ~70%)
* Developer friction reduced - automatic signing without explicit configuration
Timeline and Epics
Include expected timeline and epic breakdown:
Example:
h2. Timeline
* Target: Q3-Q4 2026
* Duration: 2-3 quarters
* Key milestones:
* Q3 2026: Core multi-architecture support
* Q4 2026: Advanced attestation features
h2. Planned Epics
* Recursive Image Manifest signing in Image Index
* Enhanced attestation formats for multi-arch
* Cross-registry signing support
* (Additional epics to be refined)
Interactive Feature Collection Workflow
1. Feature Objective
Prompt: "What is the strategic objective of this feature? What market need or capability area does it address?"
Helpful questions:
- What business problem does this solve?
- What strategic capability will be delivered?
- Who are the target users or market segments?
- Why is this important now?
Example response:
Expand Tekton Chains signing to support modern container image formats like Image Index and multi-architecture workflows, addressing supply chain security compliance requirements.
2. Strategic Outcomes
Prompt: "What are the measurable strategic outcomes? How will success be measured?"
Example response:
- Organizations can meet SLSA Level 3 for all artifact types
- Multi-arch workflows fully supported
- Signing coverage reaches 100% of build artifacts
- Reduced manual configuration overhead
3. Planned Epics
Prompt: "What epics are expected under this feature? (Initial list - can evolve)"
Example response:
- Recursive Image Manifest signing
- Enhanced multi-arch attestation
- Cross-registry signing support
- Signature verification improvements
4. Timeline
Prompt: "What is the target timeline for this feature?"
Example responses:
- "Q3-Q4 2026"
- "2-3 quarters starting Q3 2026"
- "Must complete by end of 2026"
Field Validation
Before submitting the feature, validate:
Required Fields
- ✅ Summary is clear and describes the strategic capability
- ✅ Description includes strategic objective
- ✅ Strategic outcomes present
- ✅ Timeline specified
- ✅ Component is specified (if required by project)
Feature Quality
- ✅ Scope is broader than an epic
- ✅ Spans multiple quarters
- ✅ Contains or will contain multiple epics
- ✅ Has measurable strategic outcomes
- ✅ Tied to business value
Security
- ✅ No credentials, API keys, or secrets in any field
Creation Strategy: MCP First, CLI Fallback
Follow the MCP → CLI Fallback Decision Tree in ../_common.md.
CLI Feature Creation
acli jira workitem create \
--project "SRVKP" \
--type "Feature" \
--summary "Tekton Chains Signing Enhancements" \
--description "$(cat <<'EOF'
Expand Tekton Chains signing capabilities to support modern container image formats and multi-architecture workflows.
h2. Strategic Outcomes
* SLSA Level 3 compliance for all artifact types
* Multi-arch workflows fully supported
* 100% signing coverage without manual configuration
h2. Target Users
* Platform engineers building multi-arch images
* Security teams implementing supply chain security
h2. Timeline
* Target: Q3-Q4 2026
* Duration: 2-3 quarters
EOF
)" \
--label "ai-generated-jira" \
--json
Note: Use $(cat <<'EOF' ... EOF) for inline multi-line descriptions with wiki markup. No temp files needed.
Feature Template Format
{Strategic objective paragraph}
h2. Strategic Outcomes
* {Outcome 1}
* {Outcome 2}
* {Outcome 3}
h2. Target Users
* {User segment 1}
* {User segment 2}
h2. Market Need
{Why this feature area matters strategically}
h2. Timeline
* Target: {quarters/year}
* Duration: {estimated time}
* Key milestones: {major deliverables}
h2. Planned Epics
* {Epic 1 - brief description}
* {Epic 2 - brief description}
* (To be refined as feature develops)
h2. Success Metrics
* {Metric 1}
* {Metric 2}
Examples
Example 1: Auto-Generated Feature from Epic
Context: User creating epic "Recursive Image Manifest signing in Tekton Chains"
Auto-generated Feature:
Summary: Tekton Chains Signing Enhancements
Description:
Expand Tekton Chains signing and attestation capabilities to support modern container image formats, multi-architecture workflows, and emerging supply chain security standards.
This feature addresses the growing need for comprehensive artifact signing in cloud-native CI/CD pipelines, enabling organizations to meet security compliance requirements.
h2. Strategic Outcomes
* Organizations can meet SLSA Level 3 requirements for all artifact types
* Multi-architecture image workflows fully supported without manual configuration
* Signing coverage increased to 100% of build artifacts
* Developer experience improved with automatic signing
h2. Target Users
* Platform engineers building multi-arch images
* Security teams implementing supply chain security
* DevOps practitioners managing CI/CD pipelines
h2. Market Need
Modern container deployments require multi-architecture support (amd64, arm64, s390x, ppc64le). Current signing approaches require manual configuration per architecture, creating friction and potential security gaps.
h2. Timeline
* Target: Q3-Q4 2026
* Duration: 2-3 quarters
* Key milestones:
* Q3 2026: Core recursive signing support
* Q4 2026: Advanced attestation and verification
h2. Planned Epics
* Recursive Image Manifest signing in Image Index
* Enhanced attestation formats for multi-arch artifacts
* Cross-registry manifest signing support
* (Additional epics to be refined)
h2. Success Metrics
* 100% signing coverage for multi-arch builds
* Zero manual pullspec configuration required
* SLSA Level 3 compliance achieved
* Adoption by 80%+ of multi-arch pipelines
Component: Tekton Chains
Example 2: Manual Feature Creation
Input:
/jira:create feature "Enhanced Tekton Results storage and performance"
Interactive prompts:
What is the strategic objective of this feature?
> Improve Tekton Results storage efficiency and query performance to support large-scale pipeline deployments with millions of results
Strategic outcomes? (measurable)
> - Support 10M+ pipeline results per cluster
> - Query response times under 100ms for 95th percentile
> - Storage costs reduced by 60%
> - Retention policies configurable per namespace
Planned epics?
> - Database optimization and partitioning
> - Result pruning and archival
> - Query performance enhancements
> - Storage backend flexibility
Timeline?
> Q2-Q3 2026, estimated 2 quarters
Result:
- Feature created with complete strategic context
- Ready for child epics
Best Practices Summary
- Strategic focus: Features address market needs, not just technical improvements
- Business value: Clearly articulate why this matters
- Measurable outcomes: Define success metrics
- Right size: 2-4 quarters, contains 2-10 epics
- Timeline: Specify target quarters/year
- Planned epics: List expected epics (can evolve)
- Target users: Identify who benefits
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
❌ Feature is actually an epic
"Add recursive signing to Chains" (1-2 sprints)
✅ Too small, create as Epic instead
❌ Feature too broad
"Complete Tekton platform redesign" (multi-year, 50+ epics)
✅ Too large, break into multiple Features
❌ No business value
"Technical improvements to Chains"
✅ Be specific: What business value? What outcomes?
❌ Implementation details
"Refactor Chains to use new storage backend"
✅ Focus on user value, not implementation
Workflow Summary
Follow the Mandatory Confirmation Flow and MCP → CLI Fallback Decision Tree in
../_common.md. The preview label for this type is PREVIEW: SRVKP Feature.
- ✅ Parse command arguments
- 🔍 Search for duplicate features (keyword matching)
- 💬 Interactively collect strategic objective
- 💬 Collect strategic outcomes and timeline
- 💬 Collect planned epics
- 🔒 Scan for sensitive data
- ✅ Validate feature size and quality
- 📝 Format description with Jira markup
- 📋 Show preview and get confirmation
- ✅ Create the feature (only if confirmed) — MCP first; same payload via
acli on fallback
- 📤 Return issue key and URL
See Also
/jira:create epic - Creating epics under features
create-epic skill - Epic creation (enhanced with feature discovery)