What is Jira?

If you’ve ever experienced project mismanagement or dreaded tackling the seemingly insurmountable task of managing complex business processes, then you’ve no doubt heard of Jira. Jira is a popular project management tool used by millions of people around the globe to streamline and automate various processes. They use Jira to manage software development, to bug and issue tracking. In this blog post, we’ll take an in-depth look at what Jira is, how it works, and how you can automate it with IFTTT (If This Then That).

IFTTT is a free digital tool that lets you connect and automate over 750 other tools! With IFTTT you can connect Jira to all of these tools and automate your entire project management process. Join IFTTT for free today!

So What Is Jira?

At its core, Jira software is an issue-tracking system developed by Atlassian that enables development teams to collaborate together on projects. It provides users with a centralized platform for tracking tasks – both big and small – progress milestones associated with each task, assignees responsible for completing the tasks and their respective contact information, as well as any detailed notes related to each task. Additionally, users can easily create a custom Jira workflow that simplifies complex tasks by providing visual representations of steps involved in achieving project goals or objectives.

Jira is the #1 software development tool used by agile teams. Agile is an iterative approach to software development that helps teams deliver more projects faster and with fewer errors. Instead of shooting for one big launch, an agile team delivers work in small, but consumable, increments. It lets your team be more 'agile' and respond to problems more efficiently.

Key concepts of Jira:

Issues - Projects - Boards - Workflows

Issue

A Jira issue is a unique entity that is created to represent a task that needs to be completed. It can represent anything from a bug report to an improvement suggestion, and it contains all the necessary information needed to ensure the task gets done correctly and efficiently.

Newly created issues typically contain the following information: a summary of the task, assignee responsible for completing it, type (bug, incident, change request), priority, status (open, in progress, or complete), as well as any other relevant details related to the task such as due date, description, and comments. It also includes fields for labeling tasks by tags or components.

Additionally, Jira issues can track the history of each piece of work so users can view who added what information at what time and why it was changed over the course of its lifetime. This feature allows users to quickly identify any changes made throughout its evolution.

It's important to note that there are different types of Jira issues available depending on the project or team you’re working with. For example, some software development teams may prefer using “Epics” which is used for larger tasks that require multiple subtasks in order to be completed. Task tracking is also another option with Jira which allows users to set up personal Kanban boards for managing their personal workloads with drag-and-drop functionality.

Overall, Jira issues provide an effective way for agile teams and individuals to manage tasks in an organized manner while simultaneously providing transparency into their progress and completion status.

Projects

A Jira project is an organizational unit used to track and monitor tasks associated with a specific problem, objective, or goal. It allows agile teams to collaborate on complex projects and manage their tasks in an efficient manner. Jira projects are divided into individual components, such as issues, subtasks, and workflows. This makes it easier for users to find, assign and prioritize tasks within a project.

Issues in a project can range from simple tasks such as bug fixes or minor changes to more complicated objectives like launching a new product or service. When assigning issues to individuals within the project, users can select who is responsible for completing each task by assigning them “Assignees”. Assignees have the ability to customize their own Jira workflow based on the specifics of each task they are assigned.

Furthermore, projects in Jira feature various customization options that allow teams to tailor the platform according to their needs. For example, administrators can customize certain fields within an issue so that it fits better with what their team is working on. This includes changing issue types such as “story” or “bug” as well as adding custom tags or labels for tracking purposes. Additionally, multiple people can be assigned to one issue at the same time – this allows multiple teams to collaborate more effectively on complex tasks without needing to delegate responsibilities manually every time there is an update.

Finally, when tracking multiple projects at once in Jira, software teams have access to powerful analytics tools that give them insights into how their group is performing overall and identify any potential bottlenecks in productivity before they become too big of a problem. This data can also be used for forecasting future outcomes and strategizing accordingly. Overall, Jira projects provide users with a highly customizable platform that helps streamline processes while improving collaboration among team members at all levels of an organization.

Boards

A Jira board is a powerful tool that enables teams to organize their projects, issues, tasks and objectives into an interactive visual interface. This allows users to quickly identify and prioritize tasks as well as get an at-a-glance overview of the project's progress. It also serves as an effective way to communicate project status with other stakeholders or team members.

Jira boards are highly customizable so they can be adapted to suit any team's specific needs and processes. The boards are typically composed of columns that represent different stages in the process (e.g. To Do, In Progress, Done) and cards that represent each task within the project. Once a card is moved from one column to another it is considered completed. Additionally, Jira boards allow users to assign people or teams to tasks by simply dragging and dropping cards onto a user’s list on the board.

Users can also customize their Jira board even further by adding labels, comments, rankings, and more for each card. This provides a more detailed view of the job for every member involved with the project and helps create transparency among team members by making all information related to each task highly visible. Additionally, various reports such as issue velocity and burn-down charts can be generated from data captured in Jira boards which enable teams to monitor their performance over time or spot trends and emerging issues quicker than ever before.

Workflows

A Jira workflow is an automated process that allows users to manage the progress of tasks within their projects. It outlines the steps involved in completing a task and provides users with a clear view of what needs to be done and in what order. With Jira, users can create custom workflows tailored to their specific needs, ensuring that each project runs smoothly and efficiently. A Jira workflow typically consists of stages or statuses, which represent different parts of a task’s life cycle. For example, a workflow may have “Todo”, “In Progress”, “QA” and “Done” statuses. Each status has its own set of actions that need to be taken in order for the task to move on to the next stage. For example, when a task is marked as “In Progress” it may require code changes or design reviews before it can be moved onto the QA stage. Additionally, workflows can also include triggers such as time-based events or user notifications that alert team members when certain tasks need attention. By providing users with an organized system for tracking progress and taking action on tasks, Jira workflows help teams stay focused and on track with their projects. Additionally, they enable teams to quickly identify areas where resources may need to be applied and can save valuable time by allowing users to quickly adjust processes as needed. As a result, Jira workflows provide businesses with increased efficiency and productivity while also helping ensure better quality control over projects.

Jira software features

Jira offers several key features that make it easier for teams to collaborate effectively on projects:

Agile boards:

With these boards, users can manage both sprints (time-boxed periods) as well as releases (longer periods). For digital projects like website updates or app development where tasks are frequently changing throughout the process due to new feature sets being added or bugs needing to be fixed, agile boards allow teams more flexibility in terms of managing those stories more efficiently without having them become backlogged items which may not get addressed until later stages in software development.

Real-time collaboration:

Another great thing about using Jira software is that team members can collaborate on issues simultaneously using built-in chat functions which make sharing ideas much easier than relying solely on emails;

Dashboards

Jira dashboard allows everyone involved in projects to see important updates easily due across all items such as open vs closed issues or release dates quickly so they can be aware if things are moving forward at desired pace;

Reports & Timers

reports and timers enable team members to visualize data about time spent working on different parts of their assignments, enabling them properly plan their timelines better based on trends seen within data collected over time such as how long certain tasks typically take ;

Scrum and Kanban boards

Scrum & Kanban board provide frameworks when estimates might need adjusting while the project progresses because new info becomes available, plus they make sure focus remains put towards highest priority items so nothing gets left behind. Finally - reporting capabilities through dashboards let managers quickly access visualizations into workloads tracked during certain periods which allows them to gauge progress during busy times.

How to automate Jira software with IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a powerful automation tool that can be used to connect various applications and services together in order to streamline complex processes. This makes it ideal for automating Jira, as you can set up triggers and actions across different tasks within your project to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Using IFTTT, you can create a custom Jira workflow tailored to each project’s specific needs in order to save time, effort, and expense. For example, you could set up a trigger when an issue is logged in Jira that would then send out an email notification to all stakeholders informing them of the new task added. You could also use Jira with IFTTT to automate more elaborate processes by connecting different Jira tasks with other services such as Slack or Google Calendar so that notifications are sent out whenever one task is completed or updated.

As projects become increasingly complex, it's important for teams to have systems in place for tracking progress, managing changes, and keeping everyone on the same page. Using IFTTT with Jira software allows teams to streamline their entire Jira workflow process from start to finish - ensuring all tasks are completed in a timely manner and reducing the risk of something falling through the cracks. It also provides additional transparency, as stakeholders can easily see which tasks are being worked on at any given time and who is responsible for what - ensuring everyone stays on the same page throughout the course of a project.

Of course, there are also plenty of other ways that IFTTT can be used with Jira software such as setting up reminders for upcoming deadlines or setting up notifications when milestones have been met so team members know when they need to move on the next step of their project.

Overall, using IFTTT with Jira software allows teams greater flexibility when it comes to streamlining complex workflows and automating mundane tasks - saving project managers time and money while giving them more control over their projects from start to finish. Join IFTTT for free today!

Our favorite Jira Applets on IFTTT that you can enable today.