JIRA is Great but... Y'know (JIGBY)

The Website Muscle got a new member a few months ago. (No, nobody had a baby.)

We decided to improve our internal operations and client service by introducing JIRA, a project management system made by Atlassian.

Since then, JIRA and our team have gotten to know each other pretty well. In fact, we’ve taken the liberty of renaming the system “JIGBY,” which stands for “JIRA is Great, But… Y’know…”. (Here’s why.)

“JIGBY” helped us get through some of the ‘shake your fists at God’ moments that JIRA created for our team. We definitely needed the help.

Here are some highlights of our JIGBY issues so far:

TIME TRACKING

Let’s just get this one out of the way.

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

We’ve actually gotten pretty good at keeping track of our time with JIRA’s help. And our time entries have started to uncover some fascinating things.

(One might argue that service companies should already be good at tracking time… which might be the key to a dark secret of other firms in our industry. But that’s a subject for a different post.)

For example, for every hour a client helps us with a support request, another request goes unpaid, because we stop and estimate how long it will take to complete — and the estimate is ultimately declined. Also, we’ve started to identify some areas in our development process which cost less than we thought, and others that we’re not charging enough for.

“BUT… Y’KNOW…”

We tried everything from polite requests to gamification to outright begging. Ultimately, the transition from “loosely” entering time to where we are now just took… time. Also, the JIRA time entry interface is just annoying. JIGBY.

WORKFLOWS/KANBAN

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

No element of our projects slip through the cracks anymore, which has been great for moving tasks along and completing assignments. Nobody ever wonders what the next step is — each step is laid out ahead of time.

“BUT… Y’KNOW…”

Workflows break down when “unforeseen” (read: difficult to categorize) tasks surface. These are happening less now than they did in the first few months of the system, but are still JIGBY-tastic.

ISSUES/SPRINTS

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

Honestly, our projects have never been more organized or stress-free. We’re getting things done more efficiently than ever, and “overtime” is a totally foreign concept.

“BUT… Y’KNOW…”

Probably the most mind-boggling thing about JIRA is the initial configuration. We talked to people who said, “there’s no wrong way to set things up” or “just get started…you’ll figure it out as you go along.” We can now say with experience that this is pretty poor advice.

For example, JIRA Portfolio is incredible — and it’s especially powerful when your JIRA is properly configured. We’ve had to go back and re-do things a few times (to put it mildly) to optimize our dashboards. Oh, and we owe an Honorable Mention to the creation of a new Issue for every…  tiny… bit… of work that pops up throughout the day.

JIRA SERVICE DESK

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

Really, there’s nothing particularly special about JIRA Service Desk (as opposed to similar software) aside from the fact that the data is all in one place and it’s relatively easy to pull reports.

“BUT…Y’KNOW…”

Let’s start with the cost model. It jumps from $10 per month for three users to $80 for four. So, we’re doing everything we can to stay at 3… forever. Or for a little while, anyway.

More importantly, the workflow and communication templates are terrible. JIRA Software’s workflow is dense enough. JIRA’s Service Desk workflow… basically, it’s a bully. A big, mean, pull-your-shorts-down-in-P.E. bully.

And we won’t get into the lack of control over the contents of system emails. Let’s just say we’re thankful for our patient and forgiving clients, and move on.

ADD-ONS

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

The add-on community is fantastic. A few third-party add-ons form the core of our system, and Atlassian puts out some excellent tools, too.

“BUT…Y’KNOW…”

The whole Cloud vs. Server thing (so many awesome add-ons are not available for Cloud) really cramps our style.

ATLASSIAN

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

Atlassian went public in December. That’s exciting both for the tech industry and for the longevity of the product we’ve entrusted our operations to.

“BUT… Y’KNOW…”

They’ve recently shifted away from “free add-ons” to a more “supported” model. So… things are getting a little more expensive and they keep threatening to discontinue support for certain add-ons (which eventually come out in a for-pay version anyway).

JIRA

“JIRA IS GREAT…”

Honestly, in spite of its flaws, JIRA is great. The filters make pulling simple reports extremely easy, and even a little fun… (Hey, data can be fun! Stop looking at me like that.)

“BUT… Y’KNOW…”

It’s quirky. Dealing with columns in filters is a pain (never duplicate a filter). The UX is like scaling a cliff… the pleasure doesn’t come until you finally get to stop and enjoy the view from the top.

We’re looking forward to continuing to learn and grow with the system and are loving our decision to switch so far.