Overview

Jira is a versatile project management tool that allows project managers to plan, assign, track, and review projects in real-time. Although it initially started as a bug-tracking tool—and remains highly effective for identifying, tracking, and documenting bugs—it has evolved to support a wide range of project types beyond software development. Despite a common misconception that it’s only suited for developers, Jira is now used across various industries to manage different project categories, such as service management, work management, HR, finance, marketing, design, operations, legal, and sales.

How it works?

Not all projects are the same, and a software development project has unique demands compared to those in HR or operations. To address the distinct needs of diverse projects, Jira provides four specialized products tailored for businesses of all sizes:

• Jira Software: Designed for software development teams to plan, track, fix, and deliver high-quality software efficiently.
• Jira Service Management: Supports customer service desks in tracking and resolving customer issues quickly and effectively.
• Jira Work Management: Enables project management across departments, including marketing, HR, legal, and operations.
• Jira Align: Geared for large enterprises, it connects all teams to ensure alignment and provides real-time visibility across all projects.

Features

Jira was initially created for software development and bug tracking, with features specifically tailored for issue tracking and reporting, making it a top choice for development teams. However, Jira’s built-in Agile framework is also beneficial for non-software projects. Agile methodology emphasizes prioritizing and completing key tasks first, which supports continuous delivery and helps avoid bottlenecks. This approach can be valuable for a variety of non-IT projects, such as go-to-market strategies, sales pipelines, or recruitment and onboarding processes.

Agile Development

Jira is designed specifically for Agile development, offering Scrum, Kanban, and bug-tracking boards to support various project needs. This flexibility allows development teams to select the board best suited to their project requirements, whether for software development or other initiatives like Go-to-Market strategies, recruitment, onboarding, and budgeting.

Jira includes two main boards—Kanban and Scrum—that streamline sprint management for resolving issues. Issues can be tracked and recorded across different project views, such as user stories and story points, making it easy to monitor progress and workload.

Role Assignment Features

In the free plan, all users have administrative privileges, but with the paid plans, you can assign different roles to users, such as developer, reporter, and viewer. These roles help manage global and project-level permissions, customize notifications, set email notification rules, and more.

Bug Tracking

Jira was initially created to track bugs during the software development process. It includes a dedicated bug-tracking template, making it easy to identify, record, and resolve bugs. With all issues displayed on a single board, prioritizing bug fixes becomes straightforward with just a click.

Issue Management

In Jira, anything that requires tracking from start to end is considered an “issue.” Each project consists of a series of issues to monitor. These issues are then divided into stories and tasks, allowing large, complex projects to be broken down into smaller, manageable components that can be completed in sprints and delivered incrementally.

Roadmaps

Roadmaps provide stakeholders with a clear, big-picture view of a project, offering a visual summary of goals, timelines, and priorities. This high-level overview allows managers to focus on the most important tasks and deliver the most valuable work first.

Additionally, roadmaps help align stakeholders around project objectives, fostering transparent communication and accountability. They can also be exported in formats like PDF or CSV for easy sharing.

Software Integrations

Jira offers integrations with over 3,000 apps across more than 35 categories, including project management, CRM, dependency management, security, and workflow. To help new users get started, Atlassian’s Ecosystem team highlights top apps that are great for exploring and enhancing your Jira experience.

Reporting

Jira allows the creation of over 15 different reports at each stage of a project, from planning and tracking issues to final delivery. Reports such as sprint reports, control charts, resolution time reports, and time tracking reports provide project managers with actionable, real-time insights into their team’s progress, enabling them to adjust priorities as needed. These data-driven, visually engaging reports can also be shared with clients to ensure transparent communication.

Custom Templates

Jira offers fully customizable templates for a variety of projects, including recruitment, onboarding, marketing, and HR. These templates are designed to be adaptable, allowing you to make changes even after you’ve populated them with your own data. Each template comes with pre-configured workflows and custom fields that align with industry best practices, enabling your team to get started quickly and efficiently.

Pricing

Jira offers a forever free plan for up to 10 users, making it suitable for small teams with basic project management needs. The Free and Standard plans allow the creation of single projects with basic roadmaps and dependency management. However, the Premium and Enterprise plans enable the creation of multiple projects with advanced roadmaps and dependency management. For teams with more than 800 users, the Enterprise plan provides access to even more advanced features and functionality.

Free

Jira’s Free plan is ideal for small teams of up to 10 members who need a project management tool without incurring any costs. In this plan, all users are administrators, and project permissions, roles, issues, and security levels cannot be customized. The plan includes 2GB of file storage for attachments and access to at least one community for support. Core features such as customizable templates and automated workflows are available, making it a functional option for teams with basic project management needs.

Standard

Jira’s Standard plan provides additional features compared to the Free plan and is ideal for growing teams with less complex project management and collaboration needs. It supports up to 5,000 agents on Jira Service Management, 10,000 users on Jira Work Management, and 35,000 users on Jira Software. The plan offers advanced permissions and multiple user roles to manage users efficiently. Additionally, it includes audit logs, allowing teams to track significant changes made to their Jira instance.

Premium

Jira’s Premium plan is designed for large, complex organizations with multiple teams working on large-scale projects. It includes advanced features such as global and multi-project capabilities, advanced roadmaps, custom fields for additional data, and enhanced security and compliance features. Managers can get high-level views of projects across teams and company-wide initiatives through advanced roadmaps. The plan also provides premium support, offering 24/7 assistance via phone, email, and chat from a dedicated team of technical support engineers.

Enterprise

Jira’s Enterprise plan is tailored for large enterprises with complex needs, including multiple teams, locations, and projects. It offers unlimited users and sites, advanced reporting and analytics, and dedicated support in addition to all Premium features. Atlassian’s Enterprise Advocates assist with implementation, training, and ongoing support. The plan also provides access to premium add-ons, and open beta features like Atlassian analytics, data lakes, and data connectors. Enterprise users only need a single license to log into all instances (sites created on Jira cloud).

Setup and Ease of Use

When you sign up for Jira, you’ll receive a verification link via email. After clicking the link, you’ll be redirected to a page where you can create a workspace, which is where all your activities within Jira will occur. All plans, except for Enterprise, allow only one workspace.

Once the workspace is created, Jira will prompt you to provide some basic information about yourself and your team, such as your role, experience with Agile development, and more. You can choose to skip these questions if you prefer. You also have the option to integrate popular tools like Slack, Google Sheets, MS Teams, GitHub, Jenkins, GitLab, and others, or configure these integrations later.

When setting up your project, you can choose to start with a template or create a blank project. Starting with a template can save time and effort, as it comes pre-configured with common workflows, issue types, project settings, custom fields, and best practices tailored to the type of project. On the other hand, starting with a blank project may require more time to set up.

Jira is highly intuitive for those with prior experience as developers. However, for non-developers, there may be a learning curve initially, though the effort is worthwhile due to its Agile approach to project management. First-time users are encouraged to start with templates that come pre-configured with workflows and best practices. Jira offers a variety of templates to help you get started with any type of project, making the setup process easier and more efficient.

Data Collection and Privacy

Jira offers the ability to create and customize user roles and permissions, ensuring that only trusted individuals from authorized networks can access your software instance. All data, both at rest and in transit, is encrypted using AES-256. Jira is fully compliant with major standards, including GDPR, SOC 2 and 3, PCI/DSS, ISO/IEC 27001, and ISO/IEC 27018.

For enhanced security and compliance, you can subscribe to Atlassian Access, which provides features like Active Directory synchronization and a single sign-on system for cross-domain identity management. These additional services are available as part of the Enterprise plan.

Help & Support

Jira features a comprehensive self-service portal, accessible by clicking the Quickstart button at the bottom right of your screen. It also includes helpful short videos to guide you through the process and answer any questions you might have.

Support requests are treated as issues, tracked according to their priority level, based on the information provided during the logging process. Additional fields, such as customer time zone, affected product, and escalation details, help manage the request effectively.

Jira offers 24/7 support through email and chat. In our experience, support tickets were resolved in just over an hour, and the ticket receipt email included useful links to webinars and knowledge center articles, enhancing the support experience.

Bottomline

Jira is an excellent choice for IT teams, especially those looking for a tool tailored for Agile project management. While it may require some time to become familiar with, it’s a great option for any team wanting to adopt an Agile approach to completing tasks.

For teams with basic project management needs and small sizes, Jira’s forever-free plan (for up to 10 users) is a great starting point. As your team grows and your requirements become more complex, you can upgrade to one of the paid plans. Even the free plan offers many customizable templates for project management, marketing, sales, and HR issues, making it well-suited for small businesses.

Jira, developed by Atlassian, is a project management software designed specifically for Agile teams. Originally launched in 2002 as a proprietary tool for bug tracking, Jira has since grown into a comprehensive suite of Agile work management solutions. It supports cross-functional collaboration and adapts well to teams of varying sizes due to its scalability and extensive customization options.