In today’s multi-platform world, it’s common for applications to be available on web, Android, and iOS. Often, a shared backend service supports these platforms, regardless of the interface.

Given this setup, it’s tempting to assign separate teams for backend and frontend development. However, this approach often backfires. While it may seem like everyone is busy, the reality is that separating backend and frontend teams can slow down progress, leading to frustrating delays and few production-ready features.

The solution is to form cross-functional teams that can handle a vertical slice of work end-to-end. For example, an iOS-focused team should include both iOS developers and backend developers working together.

This approach makes sense, but it raises an important question: How do we avoid redundancies, especially when the same backend service might be needed across web and mobile platforms?

To address this, we need both platform-specific user stories and a shared backlog for backend services, especially when backend developers are supporting multiple platforms.

From a process perspective, this is logical, but how can it be managed in Atlassian Jira? This was the exact challenge we faced recently. Here’s how we tackled it:

We created three separate Jira projects—one for each platform—and a dedicated backend board. Let’s explore how these boards work and how they interact.

Mobile or Web Boards: Resolving Backend Dependencies

In each platform’s board (web or mobile), we linked stories to independent backend tasks created on a separate board. This setup allowed us to track the status of backend tasks directly from the web or mobile story in Jira.

For example, if an Android task is in progress but the corresponding backend API work hasn’t started, that’s an immediate red flag.

Jira allows for linked issues to be displayed on the board, making it easy to visualize which backend task is tied to each story.

Backend Board: Mapping Backend Tasks to Web or Mobile Stories

On the backend board, each task was labeled according to the platform it supported (iOS, Android, web). If a task wasn’t labeled, it wasn’t mapped to a platform, and if it was mapped, there was a corresponding link to the relevant web or mobile task.

Unmapped tasks raised a flag – should that task even be on the board?

This method ensured clear visibility into which backend tasks were supporting which mobile or web stories, allowing for better coordination and a more streamlined workflow.

This refined process helped us align backend and frontend work more effectively, improving team collaboration and accelerating delivery.