Atlassian’s JIRA Software, an issue-tracking service written in Java and launched in 2002, was initially conceived as a software development aid. But has duly evolved over the years into an all-purpose project management tool. With more than 50,000 customers in over 200 countries using it to keep on top of tasks, it’s the best collaboration software worldwide. Its portfolio of clients include Twitter, Skype, NASA, and the U.S. Department of defense are clear testament and necessitated a migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) later.
So why are companies preferring it now?
JIRA is a considered a more modern and actively supported tool. It supports concepts like agile, sprint planning, sprint estimations, sprint boards, dev teams, customized workflows, support team and external integrations etc. It also works across lots of browsers with an updated UI, has an active community, and has cloud deployment options. Not forgetting the plenty of external integrations with other tools like Jenkins, Slack, etc.
Improved Software Cloud
In 2018, Atlassian took it up a notch with the improved Jira Software Cloud. This features a streamlined user interface, a new timeline view and a simplified configuration flow. In addition to the APIs that integrate with Bitbucket, Jenkins, InVision, GitHub, Slack, Workplace by Facebook and other third-party apps and services. These join the more than 600 integrations JIRA Software Cloud already supports. This provides for a more streamlined and simplified application. All this gives Atlassian a foundation to appeal to a wider range of business execs involved in the software-creation process.
The whole package.
Chances are that more businesses are using Atlassian software than ever. This can be seen with increased adoption of Confluence and Crucible. Which bring us to the case of software compatibility. JIRA integrates and works well with other Atlassian products like crucible, confluence etc. It’s a whole package with plugins to interact with other services too. That is no surprise as collaboration teams are now made up of a more diverse group of functions. All with a range of business departments from data scientists to marketing professionals all providing input on product development.
Collaboration experience
Atlassian’s JIRA Software feels like a much easier natural collaboration experience. But with the power necessary to do really complex work. A brilliant balance. For example, users can now move cards, create columns, and edit titles and descriptions on a JIRA board in a drag-and-drop fashion. All without having to worry about those changes failing to propagate to a backend workflow engine. Smooth experience!
Customization
All human beings are different and that means that all teams are unique in the end. Atlassian has made it easier for individual teams to tailor aspects of JIRA to better suit their needs. For example when adding custom issue types or managing permissions and user roles, a new JIRA “issue” component highlights relevant information more effectively. Users can move cards and create columns within a JIRA Software board much as they do in Trello. That triggers updates to the workflow automation engine for each project. Previously, these kinds of workflow updates required a deeper knowledge of JIRA Software.
A Road-mapping Tool
JIRA’s road-mapping tool provides a high-level view of tasks under way and shows how that work relates to specific items in each project. Roadmaps more or less help bring order to the chaos of software development. Roadmaps is a lightweight way to think about scale. Roadmap is a zoomed-out view of ongoing tasks organized chronologically. Roadmap is designed to make it easier to see where ongoing tasks fall in relation to one another. All this usability adds to the reasons why this software is gaining traction.
Simplified Use
JIRA Software also boasts simplified onboarding and configuration flows. These features let teams personalize boards by adding custom issue types and permissions. Users create new JIRA boards by answering a series of natural language questions say, whether the development schedule’s “tight” or “flexible”. All while specifying the project’s visibility either public or private. In addition JIRA issues which are visual representations of bugs, stories, helpdesk tickets, features, and other ongoing work. All now provide rich attachments for any file type, labeling features, and dedicated columns for blockers and dependencies.
A quick summary of why more businesses are choosing JIRA are:
Better prioritization
A benefit of JIRA is that it allows you to prioritize tasks better and for all members of the team to see which tasks need to be completed right away and which can be dealt with later.
Bolsters Increased productivity
When using JIRA Software, members of a team are always able to see exactly which task is next up on the list for completion. All this is helped by better visibility.
Can be used anywhere & anytime
A further benefit of the JIRA software is that it comes with widely available mobile apps. This means that all team members can stay connected not just when in the office or on their laptop, but also via their mobiles and tablets too.
1000+ add-ons
JIRA also comes with over 1000 add-ons which can help make it even more useful for Agile teams. The two of the most popular of these being GreenHopper and Bonfire.
It costs $10 per user per month for teams of up to 10 people; $7 per user per month for teams of between 11 and 100 users; and varying prices for teams larger than 100. The company also offers a free 7-day trial.