Groups usually select Jira as an answer for challenge monitoring, however the software program may function a normal challenge administration platform that can assist you plan, observe, and handle your agile software program growth initiatives — with out having to do a lot additional work or set up any further software program.
Actually, Jira features a pre-built template that provides a easy workflow that can assist you coordinate assets and observe duties related to a challenge. We’ll use this template as a part of a step-by-step information on get began with Jira for challenge administration.
What’s Jira?
Jira is software program that was initially designed for builders and engineers, nevertheless it has developed right into a full-service challenge administration platform that may assist any staff or division coordinate duties. Jira additionally connects seamlessly with different Atlassian merchandise reminiscent of Trello and Confluence, and it connects with many third-party instruments as nicely.
One clarifying word earlier than we dive in: This how-to information will concentrate on use Jira for challenge administration, not Jira Service Administration (previously Jira Service Desk). Jira Service Administration provides further instruments for service groups, reminiscent of a customer-facing portal that enables them to submit help requests. Whereas the software program names are related, and there’s some overlap in options, these are two separate merchandise that aren’t interchangeable.
Who’s Jira for?
Because of its concentrate on challenge monitoring, Jira was initially created as a device for software program growth groups, and it actually shines on this space when in comparison with different general-purpose challenge administration software program. Nonetheless, Jira can be utilized by groups of all types, and it provides templates for advertising and marketing, design, gross sales, operations, human assets, authorized, finance, and extra.
SEE: A Full Information to Software program Growth Venture Administration
The right way to use Jira for challenge administration
Step 1: Select a Jira challenge administration template
When you can construct a challenge in Jira from scratch, you’ll save your self a variety of work by selecting and customizing one in all their pre-existing templates. First, head on over to Jira’s template library and browse the templates which are designed in your staff (we’ll be utilizing the challenge administration template for the needs of this information).
- When you discover a template that you just like, hit the large blue “Use template” button on the precise hand facet of your display.
- A pop-up will ask you to both choose an current Jira website or create a brand new one.
- Make your choice, then hit the blue “Create page” button.
- Jira will open in a brand new tab and ask you to present your challenge a reputation.
- Sort it in, then click on the blue “Create project” button.
Step 2: Invite your teammates to Jira
Assuming this isn’t a solo challenge, you’ll want to ask your teammates with the intention to begin challenge monitoring in Jira. Even when your teammates don’t have an Atlassian account already, you possibly can nonetheless add them on to your challenge by clicking the spherical grey “Add people” button (which seems to be like a plus signal subsequent to an individual icon).
Sort of their emails, or add them immediately out of your linked Google, Microsoft, or Slack accounts. Then choose whether or not every individual can be an Admin, Member, or Viewer; which position they’re given will decide their permissions and entry. When you’ve obtained the roles set to your liking, hit the blue “Add” button.
Step 3: Configure your Jira challenge
Now that you just’ve obtained your challenge template arrange and invited all of your teammates, it’s time to truly configure your challenge administration in Jira. On the prime of the challenge window, you’ll see a horizontal bar that lists a number of challenge view choices: Abstract, Board, Checklist, Calendar, Timeline, and so forth.
To rapidly add duties, choose the Checklist view and hit the “Create” button. When you’ve entered all of the duties, scroll all the way down to assign every activity to a staff member and set a due date. If the duty isn’t presently being labored on, you possibly can go away the staff project and due date fields clean to point that it’s a part of the backlog.
If you wish to customise your challenge much more, replace every activity’s standing, give it a class, set the precedence, and add a label. These further {qualifications} make it simple to filter your duties to see solely particular ones, which can be extraordinarily useful down the road as you add extra of them. You can even create subtasks beneath a mother or father activity, which retains advanced initiatives organized.
Step 4: Monitor your progress
As your staff proceeds together with your challenge work, ensure that everyone seems to be updating and checking off duties as they’re accomplished. If you’re new to utilizing challenge administration with Jira, it might take a while and observe to get used to managing your workflows in a brand new system, so be affected person and commonly verify in together with your staff.
Luckily, Jira provides a number of options that allow groups to observe how they’re doing. The Abstract tab of every challenge acts as a dashboard that summarizes the important thing metrics of every challenge. Among the widgets embrace a pie chart exhibiting in progress duties vs. accomplished duties, a bar chart that breaks down duties by precedence, and a staff workload chart that exhibits how a lot work every individual has been assigned.
Jira additionally provides a local time monitoring function, so you possibly can see how a lot time is being spent on every activity. In the event you want extra capabilities than Jira’s native time monitoring function, you can even choose a third-party time monitoring device from the Atlassian market.
Step 5: Full your challenge in Jira
As soon as your staff has lastly checked off all of your duties and accomplished the challenge, it’s time to shut it out. There are two methods to do that in Jira—learn solely and archive. In the event you nonetheless need folks to give you the option learn the challenge and duplicate it, set the permissions to learn solely. If you wish to utterly retire the challenge, use the archive perform to take away it from energetic use.
Key options and advantages of Jira for challenge administration
Template library
Jira provides dozens of templates that make it simple to create a brand new challenge and begin setting it up proper out of the field. These templates are tailor-made to totally different groups’ wants in addition to totally different challenge administration methodologies.
Among the methodologies supported by Jira templates embrace:
- Agile challenge administration.
- Scrum challenge administration.
- Kanban challenge administration.
- Lean challenge administration.
- Waterfall challenge administration.
Crew collaboration instruments
There are a number of methods to collaborate together with your staff in Jira. You’ll be able to tag one another in feedback on duties and react to them with emojis to point out that you just’ve learn them. You can even combine Jira with fashionable work communication instruments, reminiscent of Slack, as a way to preserve utilizing acquainted platforms whereas ensuring Jira stays up to date.
Automation
All that point spent updating activity statuses actually provides up. To scale back pointless repetitive work, Jira provides automations to maintain issues shifting with out customers lifting a finger. Some examples of automations embrace auto-assigning work, syncing mother or father and youngster duties, and cloning points. Jira provides quite a few pre-built automation templates to select from, and you can even create your individual from scratch as nicely.
Reporting and analytics
Crew-managed initiatives in Jira get entry to 4 varieties of reviews: the burnup report, the cumulative move diagram, the rate report, and the spring burndown chart. Jira additionally embeds metrics in every challenge as a way to monitor your progress with out having to click on over to a separate reporting module. Extra metrics additionally seem within the widgets on the Abstract tab of every challenge.
FAQ
Is Jira appropriate for challenge administration?
Sure, Jira was designed as a challenge administration resolution for software program growth groups, however it may be utilized by many various kinds of groups as nicely. If you’re in search of an easier challenge administration software program with a decrease studying curve, we additionally suggest testing Trello, one other Atlassian software program that makes a speciality of kanban boards for challenge administration.
The right way to use Jira to trace challenge progress?
Jira embeds metrics immediately within the challenge views as a way to monitor your challenge progress because the work is accomplished. The deployment frequency and cycle time insights make it doable to optimize your workflows as you go. When you’ve accomplished a number of initiatives in Jira, it would additionally have the ability to challenge insights and analytics from the backlog that can assist you enhance future initiatives. Jira additionally offers a local time monitoring function, or you possibly can allow a third-party time monitoring.
Can Jira do Gantt charts?
Jira provides two barely totally different Gantt chart choices, referred to as Timeline and Roadmaps. Timeline shows a Gantt chart for a single challenge or staff. Roadmaps show Gantt charts for all the group, permitting for extra long-term strategic planning.
How do I take advantage of Jira as a challenge supervisor?
In the case of utilizing Jira for challenge managers, first create an Atlassian account and select a template to make use of in Jira. Then invite your teammates to your challenge and configure the challenge knowledge. Monitor your progress as you go, then archive the challenge or change it to read-only as soon as all of the duties are accomplished.
