I don’t know that there’s any way to get handed a challenging problem on your JIRA board. But if you work at a place that’s big and complex enough, and you have

I don’t know that there’s any way to get handed a challenging problem on your JIRA board. But if you work at a place that’s big and complex enough, and you have visibility into enough projects, you will notice challenging problems lying around untouched. Maybe no one realizes they exist. Maybe they are too deep in the sprint grind to take serious swings at them. In any event, make a case that the problem has business value and that you have a good idea how to solve it. If you are sufficiently credible and your leadership is sufficiently forward-thinking, it will be approved. This is one model for Staff-plus careers, by the way.