- Agile, scrum project/sprint planning
- Bug tracking
- Workflows which help track the current state of tasks.
Head of Embedded Development at Mecos AG
I like the workflows which help track the current state of tasks
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
- The organisation is more flexible and agile.
- Tasks are easier to track.
- Generally faster and more focused.
What is most valuable?
- Sprint planning
- Overviews over tasks and which assignees are doing what
- Specific workflows for projects.
What needs improvement?
- Add relation for workload estimation between stories and subtasks
- Linking to Confluence could be implemented. At the moment links can only be created from Confluence to JIRA, not the other way round.
Buyer's Guide
Jira
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Implementation Manager at Autodata Solutions
We now have an excellent helpdesk ticketing system with follow-up and escalation.
What is our primary use case?
It possesses excellent customization and serves the basic requirements: multi-project, products, customers and multi-level of users.
How has it helped my organization?
- We now have an excellent helpdesk ticketing system with follow-up and escalation.
- We used to have add-ons for remote support but it's not working, and it does not have powerful CMDB to help in building our KB and self-service for our clients.
What is most valuable?
Ticket management: We have our custom-defined ticketing number for each customer/product which helps in identifying the issue from the ticket number.
What needs improvement?
- It should be able to open a channel with a customer through chat or remote desktop.
- It should be able to define my KB articles and link it with a self-service ticket.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Jira
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Consultant IT Infrastructure at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
User friendly and since it's structured, it's easy to ask people from non-technical departments to use it as well.
What is most valuable?
JIRA gives you all the features you need for organizing your work within one team and across teams in a very efficient and structured way. It is more than just a ticketing system and more than just a project management tool.
It is very user-friendly and very structured which makes it very easy to ask people from non-technical departments to come and join you within JIRA projects.
The amount of plugins is astounding, and many of them have a surprisingly high quality. While some are free, some other plugins are very expensive, but at the same time worth the money (at least this is what I think).
JIRA could be basically used to organize the work of a whole company, which is why it is so valuable.
How has it helped my organization?
JIRA helped us to work across teams and sites, while staying efficient and reducing communication overhead to a minimum. Since it plays very well with other Atlassian products, you can make sure that other members of the staff find JIRA issue related information much faster than in the traditional way (e.g. asking, search engine etc.).
What needs improvement?
JIRA is written in JAVA and therefore a bit hard to trouble-shoot. It also is very expensive once you have a lot of users. And since it is very flexible, it can also lead to situations where you loose overview of permissions, custom issue types etc. It also takes too long to create your own custom fields and issue types since you have to work yourself trough many layers of abstraction and features. But this is a well-known downside of flexibility and openness.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using JIRA for more than 2,5 years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No, deployment and upgrading was always straightforward.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Sometimes, it seems that JIRA gets a little slow. But is is very hard to say if the network connection, the underlying system or JIRA itself is the one to blame.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Not yet.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used a heavily modified version of Sugar CRM, which was basically a custom solution. Never again.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Since JIRA gets really expensive when having a lot of users (and maybe plugins), you should try to avoid letting everyone in by default. Maybe it is better to only give those users access who really could benefit from this product.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Manager HRO Application Development at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It was designed to follow software development projects, but we also use it for our call centers to follow on "Learning Administration System" processes. But, its administration could be easier.
Valuable Features:
JIRA comes with a workflow designer which allows to design and keep track of execution of pretty much any process (similar to what a BPM solution would do but cheaper). In the new or existing workflows you can define new "statuses" which you can use as "Queues" to handle your process status or requests.
In principle, JIRA was designed to follow software development projects, but we are also using it as a solution for our call centers to follow on "Learning Administration System" processes.
It allows you to extend and define any new entities (record types), define sub-tasks, links between records as well as define new fields, screens and customize your UI based on your needs.
It also integrates very well with other applications thanks to its Restful API. In my case I integrated with JIRA from Webmethods EAI middleware as well as from SQL Server 2014 SSIS.
JIRA has a marketplace where many plug-ins are available (some for free) to extend any missing features, as well as it comes with an SDK to create your own one if needed. In fact, this is one of the biggest potentials from my point of view.
Among others Atlassian (JIRA's company) has two powerful plug-ins
- Service Desk (to control SLAs in top of your processes) - actually not a plug-in a product on top of JIRA.
- JIRA Agile which allows to follow Soft Dev Projects using SCRUM or KANBAN methodology.
Improvements to My Organization:
- We deployed JIRA and JIRA Agile plug-in to keep track of our software development cycles using SCRUM methodology.
- It has been our product of choice for some time now in order to deploy Learning Administration Systems for our customers.
Room for Improvement:
I strongly believe that ease of use for the administration part (workflows, screens, field definitions) could be improved. Sometimes it is difficult to understand "where you are" when administering JIRA.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
I completely agree with you about its administration being easier. Especially since we grant Admin access to a very small group. We (PMs) end up having to work with many groups that aren't even our own and provide training where necessary.
Test Manager/Senior Testing Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It doesn't provide version control for Test Cases, but its support for agile is fantastic.
Valuable Features:
- Its agile support is fantastic! Whether you are an agile expert, or just starting for both scrum and kanban teams, the whole agile process is supported
- Requirements log
- Story board
- Dashboards are a great feature to stay on top of what is going on in all the projects you are managing
- It's accessible from practically anywhere, whether you're on a mobile device or desktop across many OSs and browsers
Improvements to My Organization:
Integrating JIRA with HP Quality Center gave our dev team and management a new window to participate/track the defects Testing Team reports from. This integration is absolutely powerful and made defect sharing with different parties a peace of cake. Now we, the testing team, can report defects on our own "beloved" HP QC, and these defects gets sent automatically or upon request to different JIRA Projects and to different project parties and teams.
Room for Improvement:
I would say test management, as it's a generic issue tracking tool, and not designed specifically for test management. So, the only support for test cases is the ability to mark them as passed or failed as part of the test execution, and that's the whole test, not step by step like Quality Center. It does have many test management add-ons that can be bought, and some of them can perform close functionality to what HP Sprinter does, like Bonfire, but it does not provide video recording. It doesn't provide version control for Test Cases, and integration with Test Automation and Performance Testing tools is cumbersome.
I hate the fact that I have to buy an add-on for each feature I need. Some people might see this as positive thing since you buy only what you need, but again, not all add-ons are provided by Atlassian, and hence support and quality is subject to different providers, which is again is cumbersome, and not many people would go on with.
Reporting also needs improvement, as I need to be able to create my own custom reports and be able to export them, and screen shots doesn't work all the time.
Other Advice:
If you are an agile development team, go for it. I would advise that f your dev team have problems accessing HP Quality Center, go for it and integrate Jira with Quality Center.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Great review Amira. I would say that on the 2 pieces of functionality that you mention Jira being slightly lightweight upon, Reporting and Test Management, there are two very strong plugin vendors with well supported products. Appreciate them not being embedded into Jira may seem painful to you however rather than going down the HP route of selling you the world (and making you pay for it) Atlassian's approach to allowing people to pick and choose functionality via Marketplace plugins seems like a refreshing for software teams to build there ALM.
Disclosure: My opinion is slightly biased as I work for an Expert Partner
Team Lead - Web Services at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Highly scalable with excellent speed and search capability
Pros and Cons
- "No other platform can compete on speed or search."
- "Some small issues with stability."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case of Jira is as our project management tool for monitoring and planning.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are the speed and especially the search capability - I don't think any other platform can compete on those.
What needs improvement?
The main area for improvement is the high cost of the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Jira for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There are some small issues with stability, like unexpected updates, but overall it's good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think you can scale Jira as far or as big as you want, it's very scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Jira's technical support is easy to communicate with, and they are very responsive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This product's cost is much higher compared to other platforms, but it's worth the extra cost. Some add-ons are only available at additional cost.
What other advice do I have?
Jira is easier to configure than other platforms like DevOps. It's fairly easy to learn so long as you dedicate some time to it and is easier to use than other solutions. I would rate this solution as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Director
Fast and easily scalable with lots of functionality
Pros and Cons
- "Jira is very useful for project management for internal projects."
- "We'd like to see more collaboration tools implemented within the product itself."
What is our primary use case?
Our company is a consulting company and then we are an Atlassian partner as well. Therefore we use many functions of Jira. It's sometimes project management and sometimes to communicate to outside customers.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very fast.
It's a very useful tool. Jira is very useful for project management for internal projects.
We can easily communicate with many things easily in Jira.
There's the ability to easily customize the product. There's lots of great potential functionality.
The solution is stable.
You can scale the product very well.
What needs improvement?
We'd like to see more collaboration tools implemented within the product itself.
The product needs to allow for more communication between individuals and teams.
The solution could always use better reporting.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four or five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is the type of tool that would work well for any size of organization, from a smaller company to a very large enterprise.
The product is very easy to scale and extend the user license. In terms of functional expansion, for projects, it's very easy to expand. You can do so in no time. It's very quick.
How are customer service and support?
For the most part, we are satisfied with technical support. Sometimes in some areas, if you find a bug on Atlassian, they respond quickly. However, sometimes, they are slower. It can really vary. For the most part, they really try to get to things quickly.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is different and is case by case, however, for a single person or scrum team, it's not too hard. The process is simpler on smaller setups. The more processes the company needs, the more complicated the solution gets during implementation.
We have our own engineer team internally that handles maintenance. We have no problem with maintenance tasks. It's not too hard to handle.
What about the implementation team?
We provide implementation services to our customers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Jira pricing is very difficult to pin down. They stopped another licensing version earlier in the year, in February. Now they have only data center licenses and then cloud licenses. These are more expensive than a server license. With a server license, you pay once. When you get a cloud license, it's an ongoing annual cost. We would have preferred if the old licensing model was kept.
What other advice do I have?
We are Atlassian partners.
We are using the current version, the latest version right now.
We use both cloud or on-premises deployment models. It's a hybrid approach.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. I'd recommend the product to other users.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Middle Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Plenty of plugins, stable, and good support
Pros and Cons
- "There are a lot of plugins in Jira and we purchase the ones we need."
- "Jira can improve by making user management better. It is not easy to have visibility of who has the right to do what. Only the administrator has this visibility but there should be the option for other users too."
What is our primary use case?
We use Jira for project management for the development teams. Additionally, we do backtracking and managing the backlog but it is more of a development team tool.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of plugins in Jira and we purchase the ones we need.
What needs improvement?
Jira can improve by making user management better. It is not easy to have visibility of who has the right to do what. Only the administrator has this visibility but there should be the option for other users too.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Jira for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have never had an issue with the stability of the solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have approximately 400 people using the solution in my organization.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Jira is good.
How was the initial setup?
The configuration can be complicated, there are a lot of options.
What about the implementation team?
We have a technical team that does the implementation and maintenance of the solutuon.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The basic price of Jira is reasonable, but for each plugin, we have to keep paying more. When you add it all up, it can be expensive. The main problem we face is we are forced to purchases plugin licenses for users who are not going to use them. For example, we have Jira licenses for approximately 450 people but if we only want a purchase a plugin for few people it is mandatory to buy the license for the 450 people who have Jira licensees. This is a problem because sometimes we need plugins for the product manager or for people in charge of the report, not everyone. For us, it can be very expensive in the end, they should alter this policy to allow plugins for only a set number of licenses.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to those wanting to implement Jira is to have a lot of support. In our company, we started out small with only approximately 25 people and then we expanded quickly. Jira can be complex to manage, and it is better to have some advice or some people to help with the implementation.
I rate Jira an eight 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.
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 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
Helix ALM
Digital.ai Agility
IBM Engineering Rhapsody
Planview AgilePlace
Atlassian ALM
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?
Hi Valentin,
Considering that you've used JIRA for quite some time, have there been any significant changes to your experience since you wrote this review in August 2016?
As a JIRA expert, your feedback would be a huge help to us and to our user community!
Thanks