Jira Software Reviews

“fits every team”

Pros

One thing that really works well is how it lets you organize documents and split work into subtasks while still being flexible enough to fit just about any process. We use it for older projects, new work and support tasks and it has helped our planning a lot. There are also plenty of useful shortcuts that make maintaining everything much more efficient.

Cons

At this point, we haven't run into anything that couldn't be adapted to fit one of our processes.

“collaborative kanban flow”

Pros

It may not be the default choice for project-based work but it comes pretty close. Getting projects up and running is fast and easy and it gives our team a very open way to collaborate. Everyone can see what's happening in one place especially with the kanban boards providing that single-pane-of-glass view.

Cons

As the number of projects grows, the permissions setup starts to feel overly complex and a bit tedious to manage, particularly for anyone without IT administration experience. There's definitely a learning curve and it takes some time to get comfortable with how it all works.

“steep learning curve”

Pros

It's a very powerful tool with a wide range of functionality. Pretty much anything you can think of, this tool is likely to offer it.

Cons

Getting it implemented is complicated and it definitely takes time to fully understand all of its features.

“better request coordination”

Pros

Before we had a service desk in place, everything was handled through email for help desk requests and ongoing projects which made tracking difficult. Since implementing the service desk, managing, coordinating and following up on requests and projects has become much more organized and efficient.

Cons

At times, the email notifications haven't worked properly although that issue has improved quite a bit recently.

“tough upgrades”

Pros

Having several tools bundled into a single platform was a big plus for us, helpdesk, ticketing, kanban boards, portfolio features and more all in one place. It also makes referencing tickets and incidents within the system very convenient.

Cons

Moving from one major version of the platform to another turned into an extremely frustrating process and, in the end, it still failed. On top of that, technical support was barely available and showed little willingness to help with the upgrade at all. Considering we were paying for an enterprise support contract, I really expected much better assistance.

“project flow dashboards”

Pros

The dashboards, along with the gadgets inside them, do a really good job of keeping a project organized. I also appreciate the auto-assignment option for tickets which makes it simpler to route work to the right people.

Cons

It would be better if the software could track items from another program directly instead of relying on links.

“helpful task tracking”

Pros

Setting up Epics and Tasks is very easy and tagging people or assigning work takes very little effort. I can also create categories like to-do, pending and monitoring based on exactly what the project needs. Another useful feature is the email notification that goes out whenever I assign someone a task which works well as a reminder. As work gets finished, I can move tasks to completed and when I add items to the weekly to-do list, I'm able to count how many tasks are expected to be done which makes planning more realistic. The comment section is also something I really appreciate since it keeps the history of each task in one place and lets us attach files for future reference.

Cons

There aren't many choices when it comes to setting up categories or adding different levels. It's also difficult to view epics and tasks together when an epic does not yet have a task assigned to it.

“Simple workflows”

Pros

Even using it in a fairly basic way, most features were easy to locate and understand. The interface feels clean and simple for both everyday users and admins and it fits nicely with other tools in terms of overall look and consistency. Setting up a customized workflow was pretty easy. There are also plenty of useful options for reporting and homepage customization and once everything is up and running, it works well alongside the rest of the system.

Cons

My use barely tapped into everything the software is meant to handle so I don't really have many direct complaints about the product itself. That said, when I worked with it as an admin a few years back, parts of the integration setup with other tools especially anything involving SSH, were not very easy and sometimes produced errors that were difficult to make sense of. More recently I've only used it as a regular user so it's entirely possible those issues have improved since then. Like most platforms, you can probably think of certain customizations you'd want that aren't available but that feels more like a general limitation than something unique to this software.

“updates can frustrate”

Pros

It's been a big help for my team when it comes to staying on top of work, identifying and resolving both current and older issues and overall becoming a very effective workhorse for us.

Cons

At times, when it rolls out changes or updates, they end up disrupting or significantly altering essential functionality. That usually forces us to rely on workarounds to keep doing things the way we used to or else wait for a fix that rarely arrives quickly. They also offer a voting system for requested functionality which sounds good in theory but I haven't really seen useful improvements come from it.

“scrum team favorite”

Pros

It's a very capable product and matches the needs of a SCRUM workflow really well.

Cons

Because there are so many configurable features, setting up the environment can be quite difficult and takes a lot of time.

“clear workflow communication”

Pros

Coming from an online high school teaching role, I don't usually focus on curriculum development even though my company often asks teachers to build it. Because of that, I appreciated how easy this tool was to work with. I could locate tickets quickly and move through the project management steps without any trouble. It also gave users a more organized way to communicate and keep the workflow moving efficiently.

Cons

The dashboard was quite useful from my perspective although some others mentioned having a little trouble customizing it to match their specific needs.

“flexible setup options”

Pros

Having used this system at two different employers, I saw it set up and used quite differently in each place. From both a user and administrator perspective, it offers a wide range of configuration options and can be adapted well to specific needs.

Cons

Because there are so many configuration options, administrators need to invest some time to set everything up properly.

“agile and simple to use”

Pros

Compared with competitor tools like Rational Team Concert, this one is much more user-friendly. It fits really well with agile workflows and doesn't take long to pick up, whether you're using it day to day or managing it as an admin.

Cons

When I stack it up against other tools in the same category, I honestly don't have any real complaints. If anything, I just wish more companies would adopt it.

“quick issue logging”

Pros

Using it has been really easy and it helps a lot with communication between colleagues. It's much more convenient to log an it there instead of relying on email or other methods that can take longer when you need a timely response. I also really appreciate getting notifications whenever an it has been edited or updated.

Cons

One thing that happens pretty often is that I forget to log in before creating a new it. That's mostly on me but an auto-login feature would be really useful and would help avoid that issue.

“confusing icons”

Pros

I appreciate how it helps with sprint organization and makes creating stories and cards simple. I also find the project forecasting metrics useful and value the flexibility to group work by labels epics and other categories.

Cons

At first, the icons can be a bit confusing and the workflow doesn't always feel simple.

“workflow board power”

Pros

Using this software has been a very positive experience because it's quick and simple to work with. Project managers can describe specific parts of an issue within each task in no time and then team members can handle it by sharing updates and working toward a resolution. The workflow and board view are especially useful since tasks can be dragged and dropped across columns like unassigned, assigned, in progress, ready for test and done. Overall, it feels like a very capable and powerful tool.

Cons

One drawback I've noticed is that tasks in the "Assigned to Me" section can't be separated or filtered by project name, for example. Instead, they appear to be sorted only by the date they were assigned.

“great for teams”

Pros

Working on team projects feels much more efficient with this tool. It also boosts performance noticeably and comes with plenty of features and functionality to cover different needs.

Cons

One frustrating part is the search bar. Most of the time, I can't find the ticket I need unless I already know the exact ticket number.

“custom field flexibility”

Pros

One thing that works really well is how widely supported it is, including on Android so it's available wherever the team needs it. It also lets users build custom fields that fit their specific business requirements instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all setup. On top of that, it integrates well with several effective technologies which makes it more useful in a broader workflow.

Cons

It doesn't really suit every team or every development approach. There's no way to mass update a tag which can be limiting at times. The change from a global rank to a sprint-level rank also makes accessing issues a bit more tough than before. Pricing can also be a concern especially for smaller teams trying to keep costs under control.

“well-designed tracking”

Pros

Using this in an Agile development project for the past several months has been really worthwhile. It's a practical tool for managing tasks and issues and the interface is thoughtfully designed which makes following everything much easier. It has been especially helpful for keeping track of the status of features and issues across the project from start to finish.

Cons

New users especially anyone who hasn't worked with this or similar tools before, should expect a bit of a learning curve at the beginning. That said, it makes sense for software with this many capabilities and moving parts.

“Powerful cloud platform”

Pros

One of the best parts is how flexible it is when it comes to shaping the workflow around your specific needs. The reporting engine is also quite advanced which makes it really useful for monitoring operational performance in detail. On top of that, the cloud version feels very reliable, with strong uptime and consistently great performance.

Cons

Getting to the point where you can fully use the most valuable features takes quite a bit of time. There are many moving parts involved, projects, boards, workflows and more and understanding how they all connect can be challenging. It takes effort to learn the best way to manage them together so you can build a workflow that is both scalable and powerful.