Workflow configuration (escalation, workflow chaining, conditions, validators, post-scripting, etc)
Consultant at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
My deployment was expensive due to the complexities I implemented. Other deployments have been less expensive.
What is most valuable?
How has it helped my organization?
- Enforce role- and group-based permissions re: who can drag tickets, and when, on the agile boards.
- Instill true SLA-based reporting and escalation to keep work moving seamlessly through the process flow.
What needs improvement?
- Workflow management
- User permissions
- Native reporting capabilities in workflow
- Ticket status, etc
For how long have I used the solution?
6 years
Buyer's Guide
Jira
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No
How are customer service and support?
Customer Service:
The forums and online documentation have been fine. I haven't needed to escalate beyond that.
Technical Support:The forums and online documentation have been fine. I haven't needed to escalate beyond that.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
At my previous company they used Assembla. I switched them to JIRA which is more open in its project sharing as well as far more configurable.
How was the initial setup?
JIRA has been very simple to use, no issues.
What about the implementation team?
I've always done the implementations myself.
What was our ROI?
As an enabler of process and procedures, JIRA's ROI can be measured in that regard. Because we treat it like a tool and not an end unto itself, I've never measured it separately just for JIRA.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Including all plugins in my last job, ~$15,000 and $7,000 annually thereafter. That was very plugin-centric, however, due to the complexities and user interface solutions I implemented. Other deployments have been less expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Bugzilla and other bug tracking tools were on the docket. We ultimately chose JIRA because of its UI polish and wide range of configuration options. When JIRA added Greenhopper, now JIRA Agile, that made the choice very simple going forward.
What other advice do I have?
Read the online documentation, know what processes and procedures you wish to implement first, and keep it simple. Workflows can collapse under their own weight if they're overly complex for the sake of complexity, simply because "that's just the way things have always been done". Simplify simply simplify.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Enterprise Architect at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Easy to use, good visual display, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "Its visual display and ease of use are most valuable."
- "Once a story is closed, all the records, versions, and documentation associated with it are gone. We lose the traceability of what was done."
What is our primary use case?
I use it for portfolio countdown. I work as an enterprise architect in the company, and my usage of Jira is minimal. Software engineers in our company use Jira very heavily, but I do not use it for my day-to-day work.
How has it helped my organization?
Cadence management has improved with Jira bots.
What is most valuable?
Its visual display and ease of use are most valuable.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, the status change is too difficult. The change of status is not configured correctly. We sometimes have a limitation on the number of changes that each workflow can do, so we get very restricted with the changes, and status change gets difficult. It could be specific to our implementation.
Once a story is closed, all the records, versions, and documentation associated with it are gone. We lose the traceability of what was done.
Color codes are currently missing in Jira. It is very limited in that aspect. I would like to be able to color certain impediments or features in red. I don't want to look at everything ticket by ticket. I just want to be able to look at the colors and see where we are. I am not getting that in Jira currently. Maybe it is there, and I don't know about it.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Once we moved to the cloud, it became better. Its scalability should be good.
We have more than 2,000 users. It is extensively used, and we want to use it more and more.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We never had a similar solution because we were a waterfall organization. After we moved to the Agile methodology, we started using Jira.
How was the initial setup?
I was not a part of its implementation.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We most probably didn't evaluate other solutions. For Portfolio for Jira, we considered other solutions such as Planview or ServiceNow, but for the software engineering development life cycle, we probably didn't evaluate anything.
What other advice do I have?
When we cut over to Agile, it was a huge task to get everybody on the same page in terms of the setup and rollout. When we looked at each other's desktops, it looked so different, and our central team did a lot of effort in making it all look the same. I saw the full central team being pulled forward to resolve these inconsistencies.
It is so open that it allows inconsistency. So, you need to have a very strong and resourced team for the initial setup, implementation, and training. Otherwise, it can just fail. It could be a good thing that it is open, and everybody can have their own Jira, but finally, when the organization wants some statistics on what's happening at the enterprise level, you will not get any data. So, my suggestion to anyone cutting over to Jira is to have a very strong and resourced team centrally. You should roll out, learn, and come back to it. You should repeat this process and keep on learning and coming back. It has to be a very strong cycle.
I would rate it an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Jira
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Architect at AIOPS group
Trustworthy, convenient, and flexible
Pros and Cons
- "It is a very convenient tool. We can organize our sprints through scrum or kanban. There are scrum boards, and there are kanban boards. If you prefer scrum, you can use Jira. If you prefer kanban, you can still use Jira. You can create your kanban boards in a similar way as you create your scrum boards. It is very useful. It also seems to be very popular these days."
- "Its search and reporting can be improved. They are already nice, but they can be further improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are using it to organize most of our software development processes.
Being a cloud solution, we usually have the latest version, but sometimes, we get a pop-up saying that there are some changes in a menu or some new features are there.
How has it helped my organization?
It covers most of the development process, and almost everyone uses it. We are using it for every role involved in the project, such as business owners, product owners, testers, developers, and DevOps. For example, the product owner defines a new feature, and then we take the feature and create stories and development, testing, or DevOps tasks. We then implement the new feature or changes to an existing feature. All the test cases and other things are in Jira. So, everything is done in Jira.
What is most valuable?
It is a very convenient tool. We can organize our sprints through scrum or kanban. There are scrum boards, and there are kanban boards. If you prefer scrum, you can use Jira. If you prefer kanban, you can still use Jira. You can create your kanban boards in a similar way as you create your scrum boards. It is very useful. It also seems to be very popular these days.
What needs improvement?
Its search and reporting can be improved. They are already nice, but they can be further improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for more than 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its availability is great.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have different offices, and overall, there might be about 2,000 people. There are no issues with its performance or service. Almost all roles in our company are using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
Other people have experience with Jira's technical support, and they are quite happy with their support. Personally, I never had a case where I needed any kind of support.
How was the initial setup?
It is a cloud solution. It just requires licensing. Of course, some support would be required for all users of Jira, which could be in thousands. It might not be an easy task, but overall, I don't think a lot of time is spent on its maintenance and support. It is a very trustworthy service.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is certainly a long-term solution for our company and for previous companies that I have worked for. They have these long-term term licenses, but I'm not sure if they really pay on a yearly basis. They are certainly using it for a really long period and for a lot of users.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this solution. It is very popular, and a lot of my colleagues have used it before. It doesn't require a lot of learning time. It is very good to use. I'm quite happy with the service. Of course, it can improve, but personally, I'm very happy with it.
I would definitely give it a good rating. I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Automation Architect at Micro Focus
Useful dashboards, effective reports, and updates quickly
Pros and Cons
- "The dashboard and reports tracking and the setup updates quickly, I am very impressed with those features. Additionally, it is user-friendly."
- "The integration of Jira could improve. The solution should be able to integrate easily with other solutions, such as ERPs. There are times the solution can be slow and we have to reset it over and over again."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Jira for requirement and defect management. Not for DevOps purposes, only application development.
What is most valuable?
The dashboard and reports tracking and the setup updates quickly, I am very impressed with those features. Additionally, it is user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
The integration of Jira could improve. The solution should be able to integrate easily with other solutions, such as ERPs. There are times the solution can be slow and we have to reset it over and over again.
In an upcoming release, they should improve the user management features. For example, when I want to monitor a project as a CEO I do not want all the details but enough that I can understand. Additionally, these features should be accessible to me by mobile.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Jira for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Jira is a reliable solution for that medium-sized organizations. It's not for enterprise-level organizations, they have a long way to go.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability has to be improved more because Jira currently is similar to a standalone solution with very limited integration. The integration with other products has to be more.
We have approximately 50,000 people using the solution.
How are customer service and support?
We use our own IT department for the technical support of Jira.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We used to be on a perpetual license provided by our clients.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. Any new startup company can start with Jira immediately because it is now offered in the cloud.
I rate Jira a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Principal Project Manager at Systems Limited
Beneficial jQuery function, easy design creation, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "One of the most valuable features is querying because the jQuery function is very good. Additionally, we can create good designs very easily."
- "Jira should allow you to create and develop pipelines easily. In India, we have to purchase them separately or integrate other data tools. All these tools should be in Jira."
What is our primary use case?
We are using primarily using Jira for the project and issue tracking mostly.
What is most valuable?
One of the most valuable features is querying because the jQuery function is very good. Additionally, we can create good designs very easily.
What needs improvement?
There are too many restrictions in Jira. In DevOps, you can access the dashboards easily, but in Jira, you should have more administration rights. In our organization, there are some restrictions on creating dashboards and other features. Everything should be accessible with all access rights for everyone.
Jira should allow you to create and develop pipelines easily. In India, we have to purchase them separately or integrate other data tools. All these tools should be in Jira.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Jira for approximately 12 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Jira is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my experience Jira is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support has been satisfactory but could be better.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used DevOps and the main difference between DevOps and Jira is the test cases. You can have test cases in DevOps, but not in Jira. This is what I have observed in my recent comparison. Jira has jQuery and it is far better than what they have in DevOps. There are some filtration and grouping settings in DevOps which I do not like.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Jira is expensive and a lot of people are choosing DevOps because they are cheaper, open-source, easy to use, and have basic licenses. Jira should decrease its price to be more competitive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Jira an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior PM / Scrum Master at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable and easy to learn with good customizations, useful burndown charts, and support for a query language
Pros and Cons
- "It was very easy to learn Jira. As a scrum master, I run daily stand-ups, and they are run directly from Jira. The feature that I really love in Jira is called Issue Navigator. It allows me to customize how I want to show the user stories within Jira to my squad."
- "I can use Jira Query Language (JQL) to write queries to see the stories that are there for the current sprint. I can also sort them by assignment. I also use Jira is for burndown charts, which give an indication of how efficiently the squad is performing. I also use the Active Sprints function and a feature called Planning Poker."
- "One major issue that I, and even our business stakeholders, have noticed is related to Epic Link. When Epic Link's background color is a dark color, it effectively becomes unreadable. I wish there was a way for us to change the text color of Epic Link in the Issue Navigator view."
- "There needs to be an easier way to capture a few metrics. I wish there was an easy way for Jira to explain to me what has been added after the sprint has been done. Currently, it is a bit difficult for me to tell. In addition, when rolling over stories from one sprint to another, it is kind of difficult for me to find out how many story points were actually rolled over without going into Jira and doing an analysis. I wish Jira would somehow aggregate that information for me so I can easily report about it."
- "I also wish Jira had an indicator to tell you that you are approaching the limit for the story points that can be delivered during a sprint. I don't think there is an indicator like that, but such an indicator will be very helpful because then I will be easily able to see that we are approaching the limit."
What is our primary use case?
I work with a credit rating company in the US. As a scrum master and project manager, I have to make sure that all the impediments are removed for the team. I work with product owners to make sure that all initiatives requested by our stakeholders, who are mainly compliance and regulations people, are moving in a timely manner.
I use Jira to make sure that we are capturing all the work that is requested, and it is progressing in a timely manner. I am in charge of a squad called Core Operations Reporting. A squad is usually focused on one or two initiatives. The goal of our squad is to automate regulatory reports as much as possible. I talk to our stakeholders to ensure that any errors in credit ratings are dealt with in a timely manner. A lot of these requests are ad hoc, and we prioritize them in sprints in Jira.
What is most valuable?
It was very easy to learn Jira. I can't explain how easy it was. The hardest part of my job is understanding the business and communicating with difficult stakeholders and difficult people on the squad who are resistant to change and agile methodology. The fact that Jira was so simple to understand was a huge boon in my book because I didn't have to waste time trying to learn the tool to get work done and move the squad along. It was very easy to understand.
As a scrum master, I run daily stand-ups, and they are run directly from Jira. During these stand-ups, to make sure that there are no impediments, I run through all of the open issues and action items that the team members have. The feature that I really love in Jira is called Issue Navigator. It allows me to customize how I want to show the user stories within Jira to my squad.
I can use Jira Query Language (JQL) to write queries to see the stories that are there for the current sprint. I can also sort them by assignment. I am able to call each assignee and have them walk through the status of what they did yesterday, what do they plan to do for the next 24 hours, and if there are any blockers or impediments.
I also use Jira is for burndown charts. A burndown chart provides a visual depiction of how quickly the squad is closing out user stories. It gives us an indication of how efficiently the squad is performing. I also use the Active Sprints function and a feature called Planning Poker. Planning Poker is an add-on, and it allows me to work with my squad members to estimate the complexity of user stories. It allows me to estimate user stories in an unbiased way with my squad members. It is important that people are not piggybacking on other people's estimates, so when a business requests a functionality, I use Planning Poker to have people send me their estimates in an unbiased way. They cannot see what other people have estimated. This way, they have their own unbiased view on specific user-requested functionality and its worth. After that, we end up talking out like, "Why did you think it was a three? Why did the other person think it was a five?" So, it allows an unbiased way of estimating user stories.
What needs improvement?
One major issue that I, and even our business stakeholders, have noticed is related to Epic Link. In Issue Navigator view, Jira allows you to enter JQL, which is basically like SQL. You just enter a query, and it displays the stories that satisfy the query. There is a field called Epic Link, which is basically a high-level designation for a bunch of user stories with a common goal. Epic Link is typically of different colors. When Epic Link's background color is a dark color, it effectively becomes unreadable. I am looking at my screen right now, and there is an Epic Link called Click View User Request. The background is purple, and the text is black. It is almost impossible to read it unless you click on it or give it an extra minute of viewing. That's basically what needs improvement. I wish there was a way for us to change the text color of Epic Link in the Issue Navigator view.
I've been required to report on metrics, and I don't know if it is possible with Jira, but there needs to be an easier way to capture a few metrics. For a two-week sprint, we are required to report on a number of metrics such as committed, completed, added, and rolled over. There is a way to see the stories that have been added after the sprint has begun, but there is no easy way to aggregate this, which is a waste of time. I wish there was an easy way for Jira to explain to me what has been added after the sprint has been done. Currently, it is a bit difficult for me to tell.
In addition, when rolling over stories from one sprint to another, it is kind of difficult for me to find out how many story points were actually rolled over without going into Jira and doing an analysis. I wish Jira would somehow aggregate that information for me so I can easily report about it. There should be an automatic aggregation of how many story points were added after the sprint began and how many story points were rolled over to the subsequent sprint.
I also wish Jira had an indicator to tell you that you are approaching the limit for the story points that can be delivered during a sprint. Typically, there is an established capacity for each sprint. I take an average of all of the delivered story points from the past six sprints, and I use that number to estimate how many story points can the squad deliver. I wish there was an indicator in Jira that tells you that you are approaching the number of story points that can be delivered during the sprint. I don't think there is an indicator like that, but such an indicator will be very helpful because then I will be easily able to see that we are approaching the limit. I can then talk to the squad members and say, "Okay, we need to remove some story points from the sprint because we're reaching capacity."
For how long have I used the solution?
My experience with Jira is pretty extensive. I pretty much use Jira every single day and multiple times a day. When I'm not using Jira, I'm using Confluence. I also use SharePoint.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is 100% stable. Stability is also dependent on a lot of factors. Jira has been down once or twice, and people go crazy. In almost two and a half years that I've worked here, Jira was down only a handful of times, and I don't think that was Atlassian's fault. Atlassian is the company that is responsible for these tools.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I am not really aware of things in terms of expansion. However, there are some add-ons or extensions for expanding the functionality of Jira. The Planning Poker tool seems to be an add-on. Similarly, there is also another extension or plugin called Structure that was previously going to be leveraged. We haven't moved forward with that because we're using more of a manual solution in the metrics reporting. There is another add-on called Dataplane Reports. So, scalability is definitely there, and there are definitely opportunities to scale horizontally and expand the functionally of Jira through plugins and add-ons.
In our organization, we only have 5,000 employees, and probably 70% of the company is using Jira. which includes the business as well. The business is also learning how to use it, and they understand that it is a very powerful tool. I would say about 3,500 out of 5,000 people are using Jira.
How are customer service and technical support?
I didn't have to contact Atlassian. We have an internal Jira support team that answers all our questions. I don't think they have contacted Jira support in a while.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup was not done by me.
What about the implementation team?
Its initial setup was done by Jira administrators.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am not sure about the pricing, but I know its licensing is on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
The main advice would be to just use it as much as possible and try to learn the basics of JQL, which is Jira's proprietary language that allows you to tell Jira exactly what you want to see. It is pretty self-explanatory and not hard to use. There are so many different fields in Jira such as issue type, key, sprint, summary, Epic Link, reporter, assigning, status, story points, and components. You can add the required columns to the Issue Navigator view, and it will spit back exactly what you wanted to see.
You should also learn what kind of value it can add to the organization before just jumping in. Try to talk to senior management and figure it out. You should learn how to read the burndown charts to basically understand how efficiently the team is working. Every organization has an IT organization, and I am sure the majority of them are using Jira.
I would rate Jira an eight out of ten. No tool is perfect, and there is obviously room for improvement.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Supervisor - Global Software Tools and Processes at Ford Motor
Good dashboards, and Kanban boards, and links to GitHub
Pros and Cons
- "Issue linking has enabled teams to trace issues."
- "The only thing that JIRA doesn't for us is release management in a way that I can create a list of versions easily."
What is our primary use case?
I use this solution for general issue management, software planning, and change management.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution is a one-stop-shop for issues and plans.
What is most valuable?
Issue linking has enabled teams to trace issues.
I like the dashboards and Kanban boards.
The development links to GitHub are critical.
What needs improvement?
The only thing that JIRA doesn't for us is release management in a way that I can create a list of versions easily.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Info Sec Consultant at Size 41 Digital
Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes.
Pros and Cons
- "Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes."
- "There's been the odd amount of JIRA downtime (not self hosted) and sometimes tickets that can't be accessed."
What is most valuable?
Perfect for keeping track of large amounts of bugs, tasks queries and releases for fixes.
The SaaS does the job it is supposed to: helps you keep track of your projects. What I like most is the ease of adding users and the obvious nature of what they need to do - drag and drop is always a win.
It is cross methodology so Scrum, Kanban... it doesn't matter, you can use JIRA.
I like how it shows the sprints remaining. Being able to instantly see where you are in a project and what is coming up is invaluable.
Also, the ability to link a programme of projects is very helpful. I can see where all of the teams are with their individual projects but also how they fit into the overarching business plan for the year.
How has it helped my organization?
In reality, it's allowed me to raise and keep track of 700 tickets (bugs, queries, tasks etc) effectively. I can track what tickets are in UAT and which ones are coming out in the next software release. It's very simple.
It allows all of those involved in a project, to see what stage their deliverables are (depending on what you allow people to view, they can see all deliverables from all teams)
Keeping everything in one central place with it obvious as to who is responsible for what, is a fantastic thing.
It gives programme managers an overview of how a slew of projects are going. This also provides information for Exec meetings/Board meetings - visuals are always helpful to instantly show people what is happening with a programme of improvements.
Basically it allows me to see what is happening very quickly.
What needs improvement?
I have no areas of improvement that I would push. JIRA does what I need - it allows me to assign tasks and to update my project. Any problems that I have found have been more to do with people entering with a lack of details - rubbish in = rubbish out. But that is the same with all apps.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used JIRA for over a couple of years, in three organisations, so I have some experience of how different places use it.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
SaaS so nothing to deploy really.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There's been the odd amount of JIRA downtime (not self hosted) and sometimes tickets that can't be accessed.
How is customer service and technical support?
I've not had need to contact the customer support team so I suppose that is a good thing.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Thanx for sharing valuable info
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Product Categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Application Requirements Management Project Management SoftwarePopular Comparisons
Microsoft Azure DevOps
TFS
OpenText ALM / Quality Center
OpenText ALM Octane
Rally Software
Polarion ALM
Jira Align
Codebeamer
Jama Connect
PTC Integrity
Digital.ai Agility
Helix ALM
IBM Rational ALM
Planview AgilePlace
GoCD
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Quick Links
Learn More: Questions:
- Has anyone tried integrating HP ALM and JIRA ?
- Can JIRA provide integration to SAP automation?
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between JIRA And Microsoft Azure DevOps?
- What Is The Biggest Difference Between AgileCraft And JIRA?
- What is the biggest difference between JIRA and Micro Focus ALM?
- Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
- Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?
- Is Jira a suitable solution for both agile and waterfall projects?
- Which tool is integrated better with Jira - Micro Focus ALM Quality Center or TestRail by Gurock?
- What are the equivalent Microsoft tools to Atlassian Confluence and Jira?
Very small world :)