Jira Software Reviews

“Fantastic UI and charts”

Pros

Using this software feels very easy. The interface is user-friendly, the UI looks fantastic and there are plenty of charts available to work with. Sorting and search features are included as well and having API access is another big advantage.

Cons

One frustrating part comes up while posting data, such as when adding a defect. The pop-up window is very limited and static, you can't move it, minimize it or access any background information while it's open. If someone needs to check details in the background, they have to close the pop-up and that causes the data they already entered to be lost.

“Sprint planning upgrade”

Pros

After trying a number of agile sprint planning tools, this has easily been the best one I've used. It's incredibly powerful, highly customizable and when our team moved over to it, we saw a noticeable boost in productivity along with a better overall work rhythm thanks to stronger time management.

Cons

Biggest downside is the price which can get expensive fast especially for a team that's growing quickly.

“Strong remote scrum fit”

Pros

Keeping track of issues, requirements, development work and testing is very easy with this tool which is especially helpful when working with a remote team. It also does a really great job of supporting stand-ups and scrum meetings efficiently.

Cons

Sometimes the system can feel a bit limited but that usually comes down to how it has been configured and the rules set by the owner. On the other hand someone with enough experience can adjust the setup to match a team's needs more closely without making the process feel too restrictive.

“Email ticketing and teamwork”

Pros

One feature that really works well is being able to create tickets just by emailing a configured address. It also makes collaborative project management convenient since the whole team can stay updated on progress and completed tasks in one place.

Cons

A limitation is that only one person can be assigned to a ticket. It's also difficult to locate information on members who have been deactivated. On top of that, the boards, stories and tasks workflow doesn't feel very simple and searching for tickets isn't particularly instinctive either.

“Custom workflows and Slack”

Pros

Being able to build custom workflows is a big plus and it really helps that almost everything can be tailored to match the way your team prefers to work. The Slack integration also performs really well and doesn't take much effort to get up and running.

Cons

Pairing it with Bitbucket turned into one of the more frustrating experiences I've had especially as a fairly inexperienced developer coming from GitHub and Trello. Since both tools look almost exactly the same, I constantly had to double-check which tab I was in. If you accidentally created an issue in the wrong one, the only fix was to delete it and post it again in the correct dashboard. I do appreciate the concept of keeping everything in one place but it still feels like it hasn't fully come together yet. Moving back and forth between this and Bitbucket was often awkward and bringing Confluence into the project only made things more confusing.

“Remarkable industry value”

Pros

It covers everything we need it to do and the price makes it stand out as a really strong value in this industry.

Cons

Getting it to handle certain tasks in specific ways or adapt to new processes is not very easy or obvious. We ended up bringing in an IT professional to set up the workflows and walk us through the best methods.

“Project customization”

Pros

There's a ton of flexibility when it comes to customizing projects, boards, components and workflows. It feels like the platform offers nearly unlimited options for configuration and setup.

Cons

One frustration is formatting comments exactly the way I want. There is a text editor included but the formatting options are still pretty limited.

“Helpful activity alerts”

Pros

I really appreciate that it sends email notifications whenever there's activity on one of my items.

Cons

At times, the number of emails can be overwhelming and setting up the project can be difficult.

“Agile collaboration but weak search”

Pros

One thing that works really well is how quickly multiple users can update the knowledge base which makes it feel very flexible, responsive and easy to adapt as things change.

Cons

On the downside, the search feature tends to bring back a lot of irrelevant results so finding the right information can be frustrating.

“Strong integrations”

Pros

Using it from both sides, as an end user and as an admin, has been a really positive experience. On the user side, it feels very easy to work with. Updating tasks, checking the team's progress, attaching files to items and linking everything across tools like Stride and Confluence all feels simple. On the admin side, the amount of workflow customization has been especially valuable. Our team has evolved a lot as we've grown and refined both our development and QA processes so being able to adjust the workflow to match those changes has helped a lot. Another big plus is how well it connects with just about every major software platform, including Slack.

Cons

Most of the issues I've had with the software have come from the administrative side. Since there are so many customization options, it can be difficult to figure out where certain settings live or what exactly needs to be changed to make a specific customization. The documentation could definitely be better and web searches often lead to outdated guides or old community forum threads. Between those sources, I can usually piece together the answer but it takes more effort than it should. A lot of the confusion comes from the UI being updated over time, with menus moved, renamed or removed entirely. The underlying information is usually still accurate but finding the current location of things can be frustrating. More than once, I've thought I had the right setting, taken a guess by checking a box or clicking a button and luckily it worked. At least I've never run into anything that couldn't be reversed right away.

“Beginner-friendly with alerts”

Pros

Getting started with it was easy even as a beginner. The notification system is something I really enjoy and find especially helpful.

Cons

From an admin perspective, the project side could be made more simple.

“Highly extensible platform”

Pros

One thing I really appreciated was how extensible the software is. That flexibility can be both a benefit and a drawback but it gives you the ability to do just about anything you can imagine with it.

Cons

That same flexibility is also where the biggest challenge comes from. There's a huge learning curve when it comes to configuring it to work exactly the way you want but thankfully there are plenty of online communities that can help guide you through it.

“Flexible boards and workflows”

Pros

One thing that really works well here is the choice between SCRUM and KANBAN boards if that suits the way your team operates. You can build out different dashboards and projects inside the platform and there's a lot of room to tailor the overall experience so it matches exactly how you want to work. It also lets you create multiple ticket workflows with different statuses and states which gives you plenty of flexibility.

Cons

At the same time, there seems to be a workflow tied to just about everything. The board feature works nicely if you already have a great process in place but without that, it can be frustrating. I've had quite a few tickets basically disappear because the workflows are less simple than they first appear and setting up kanban boards can be much more complicated than expected.

“Powerful search and tagging”

Pros

Being able to tag people is really useful and the search is one of the strongest parts of the software. You can look things up using just about any field and JQL makes that even more powerful.

Cons

Reporting could definitely be better. When people are tagged, their full names do not always appear and only the usernames show instead. It seems inconsistent since sometimes the full name appears and other times it does not. The Kanban boards also do not always match well with custom workflows and there is no way to move items between statuses directly on the board when using those custom workflows. Instead, the status has to be updated from the ticket itself.

“Detailed workflow insights”

Pros

The way it organizes our workflow works really well especially with the detailed data measurements it provides.

Cons

Interface still has room for improvement when it comes to presenting the information more clearly.

“Task tracking and communication”

Pros

Keeping up with tasks is really convenient because I can view and update them whenever needed. Adding comments is helpful and it keeps communication flowing clearly between me, my team and my manager. I also appreciate being able to adjust due dates on my own without needing someone else to do it.

Cons

One frustrating part is that once a due date passes and the task still is not finished, it disappears so I have to remember to manually update the date. A lot of the time that happens because I am still waiting on something from the client. Looking back for older tasks can also be a hassle since it is usually hard to scroll through everything and find the one I need.

“Project tracking that delivers”

Pros

Managing projects across teams has been much better with this software, no matter the size of the organization. It covers the essentials really well, you can create tasks, assign them to specific users, add notes and mark items complete all in one place. Our weekly project update meetings became much more productive because we could simply review tasks one by one and have team members comment or share their status directly there. It's also very useful for seeing how work is distributed across the team which makes it easier to rebalance tasks when one person starts carrying too much of the project.

Cons

Getting everything set up does take a while and it helps to have someone with technical experience handle that part. People who haven't used similar tools before may also run into a learning curve at the beginning.

“Boards for teamwork”

Pros

It's very clear to see what everyone on the team is working on. The backlog, scrum and kanban boards are all useful and it's simple to adjust the boards based on the team's needs.

Cons

Honestly, I don't have any complaints overall.

“Salesforce integration and visibility”

Pros

Using Book has been very easy and the Salesforce integration is a big plus. It also works really well for sharing comments and tracking updates across different departments which keeps everyone aligned.

Cons

The search feature could be more simple. It would be even better if it included more UI-based search filters and parameters to make finding things faster.

“Feature-rich scrum board”

Pros

Working with Agile SCRUM has been much more convenient because this tool makes it simple to manage our scrum board and kanban workflow. It comes with enhanced features and offers plenty of useful options.

Cons

It would be even better if future updates added more graphical features and improvements.