Jira Align Reviews

We have a group of several teams, each working within agile teams. These teams are organized into various solution levels, and we also have portfolio-level views that we manage. The product has facilitated alignment between our business strategy and all teams by enabling strategic planning and backlog creation at a high level. We've implemented lean portfolio management, which involves lean budgeting and brainstorming on various epics. These epics are then assigned to the respective value streams. 

Jira is one of the most widely used tools in the market, and it has a vast amount of data already stored in it. Jira Align is crucial in orchestrating this data and providing valuable views and insights. However, it's essential for tools like Jira Align to offer configurable features. While complete customization might not always be feasible for enterprise-level tools, configurable features allow organizations to drive transformation accordingly. 

The feature I've found most valuable for improving my team's productivity is the Gantt chart view. It helps organize our backlog and track our progress toward achieving our goals. Additionally, the ability to connect dependencies within the tool has been very beneficial for us.

Jira Align offers a one-stop solution for managing projects and platforms. However, its biggest competitor could arguably be considered an Excel sheet.

I've encountered limitations in using Jira Align for certain aspects, particularly in implementing OKRs. Jira Align's highest hierarchy is Epic, which may not always align perfectly for specific initiatives. Additionally, while Jira Align offers functionality for tracking OKRs and generating dashboards, I've found that it lacks in some areas. As a result, we've explored alternative solutions that better meet our needs in these areas. Its Kanban feature is also limited. 

I have been using the product for two years. 

The tool has been stable since we moved to the cloud. 

Jira Align is highly scalable. The number of licenses purchased primarily determines its scalability. As you buy more licenses, the scalability of the tool increases accordingly. 

The number of users using the product varies depending on the organization. For example, at one client, there are approximately 250 users, while at another organization, there are around 550 users.  I haven't had the opportunity to work with organizations with thousands of users.

The tool's setup depends on the user's familiarity with the tool. It may seem intuitive for individuals with extensive experience using Jira, like myself, after sixteen years of usage. However, Jira can appear daunting for newcomers, akin to navigating an ocean. Deploying Jira effectively requires expertise and support, ideally from external consultants who can guide the implementation process. 

While external consultants can provide expertise, having knowledgeable individuals within the company who can guide its use is also beneficial. Companies often rely on employees with experience to make changes and manage Jira Align. Many companies have complex workflows that may not be optimized, leading to challenges in effectively utilizing Jira Align's capabilities. I name this scenario growth pain. 

Our customers buy licenses. We are not involved in its purchase. 

The reporting analytics feature in Jira Align provides valuable insights into our job processes. However, it's important to note that while analytics can offer perspectives based on the data we input into Jira Align, it's just one aspect of how organizations evaluate success.

Organizations also require insights into revenue realization, overall throughput, customer satisfaction (NPS), and other metrics that may not be directly captured in Jira Align. Therefore, while Jira Align's analytics tools work well within their scope, a broader perspective necessitates integration with business intelligence tools to gather insights comprehensively across the organization.

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten. I would recommend Jira Align to others, and I have some advice for those who want to start using it. My advice is directed more towards Atlassian. They should focus on being more empathetic and creating awareness about Jira Align. It would benefit them to allow people to use Jira Align for longer to experience its full potential. Understanding the diverse perspectives of different user groups, such as business, product, engineering, and infrastructure teams, is crucial. Atlassian should consider a wider range of personas and conduct deeper inquiries to address the various needs effectively. This approach would help establish Jira Align as a trusted partner for users. If I were to rate Jira Align as a trusted partner on a scale of one to five, I would give it above three. 

The tool helps with product planning and strategic road maps. Unfortunately, it is too wedded to the quarterly planning model of the Scaled Agile Framework. If you want to do continuous planning, or plan work that spans multiple quarters, it's extremely difficult. You must artificially split work across quarters rather than, for example, start work in the last month of a quarter and finish the same work in the next quarter.  Also, dependency management is like throwing work over the wall.

It was a huge learning curve for dozens of teams. It didn't work, and we are abandoning the solution.

The product has good visualization capabilities and helps to see the different dimensions of a plan. 

The tool's corporate pricing is expensive.

Continuous planning is non-supported. Only the quarterly "PI Planning" model is available for many of the most useful road mapping features.  

Dependency management is like throwing work over a wall from one team to another and does not help with engineering-level orchestration of work in delivery.

I have been working with Atlassian products for six years. 

The product's stability is pretty decent. There are some issues when you try to integrate with Jira and Align. The data that goes back and forth creates data management issues due to delays in synchronization.

The product is scalable. 

The support goes through corporate support hence I didn't have much interaction with the support team. 

There was a negative ROI.

I would rate the product a two out of ten. 

I use Jira as a tool to keep everything in check for our projects. It helps me track and fix any issues that pop up during development, whether it is sorting out problems with the product or organizing tasks for the team. I also use it to store and manage user stories.

What I like about Jira is that I can easily keep tabs on the status of different issues and what the team is working on. It helps me see if there are any bugs or tasks that need attention before we move on to the next steps. Additionally, it is great for team collaboration. We can pass things back and forth smoothly, from the technical team to testing and the project manager. This way, everyone stays in the loop, and we get a clear view of how things are progressing in the project. It has become a really valuable tool for us.

For future releases of Jira Align, I would suggest making workflows simpler and more user-friendly. It would be helpful to have improved tools for visualizing workloads and an easier way for users to collaborate with administrators to streamline complex workflows. Simplifying communication and customization, especially for managing bulk storage and intricate projects, would enhance the overall user experience.

I have been using Jira Align for five years.

I would rate the stability of Jira Align as a nine out of ten. It is quite stable.

I would rate the scalability of the solution as an eight out of ten. We have approximately 150 users at our company. If the company expands in the future, we will likely use Jira more for upcoming projects.

For those looking to use Jira Align, my advice is to explore its intuitive user interface and ease of use. If any issues arise, don't hesitate to reach out to the admin team for solutions to enhance workflow and performance. Open communication within the company can lead to a more responsive and effective use of Jira Align for project management. Overall, I would rate it as an eight out of ten.

I mainly use Jira Align for planning apps in the department.

Jira Align's most valuable feature is the view of strategic control reports for high-level directors.

Jira Align's setup process could be more straightforward, and they could make training and educational documentation more accessible. In the next release, I would like to see an improvement to the navigation system.

I've been using Jira Align for two to three months.

Jira Align is stable.

Jira Align is scalable.

Jira Align's technical support is good but limited - there are people in my department with more experience.

The initial setup was of medium difficulty, and I needed to find support documents to complete it.

I would give Jira Align a rating of nine out of ten.

The solution was useful in monitoring and observing the status of different environments.

We have a dedicated team to monitor the solution and keep everyone updated about the status of our environments, tools, and applications. The tool enabled everyone to see the status of each environment. Based on the availability, they could decide whether to use the environment at a particular time or set up some test sessions for a day and block the environment for themselves or the team for testing or maintenance. The board meetings took much less time to figure out where we would be at a point when we needed to do some activities. Everyone was aware of the status. We could be better prepared for the meeting.

It takes a lot of time to maintain the product. There were a lot of changes in our environments during the day. Using the tool might have been more convenient and productive if we did not have hundreds of different environments. The tool must provide better bulk editing features. It must provide more flexibility to make a wide range of changes to many things at once.

I used the solution for a few months.

The product was pretty stable. I rate the stability a seven or eight out of ten. The solution is not the perfect tool for a complex environment.

The tool’s scalability was good. We have around 250 to 300 users in our organization. The technical team had three members.

The setup was straightforward.

The solution increases the productivity and awareness of the team members. It also saves the management’s time.

The tool is good if we do not have many applications or environments to monitor and handle. It can be really useful when we have to make a roadmap with the management team. Sometimes, it can be too much to maintain and handle if we have too many environments. We will always keep forgetting something. To keep everyone using the product and updating it was challenging. Half of our team used it and performed all the necessary actions. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We used Jira Align as an ITSM. The solution uses Slack as well. We use Confluence.

I found Confluence most valuable.

For an ITSM tool to be maximized in an organization, it should be tailor-fitted. Unfortunately, some are not good at programming these applications. For example, we've used Jira for some time but never configured the SLA. It depends on the person who is programming the software.

When it comes to a weakness, I don't know if Jira provides training for people who want to be certified with the solution, so that is one of the problems. We depend on the vendor, and the vendor doesn't have enough time to support us, so we need training from Jira.

ServiceNow has a lot of resources. So that may be the game changer there.

I have one year of experience.

Jira Align is stable.

Jira Align is scalable.

When we deployed Jira, there was no support. It's not a problem on the vendor side. It's a problem because no one is properly managing the service services. There is no vendor management at all. But it's not Jira's fault.

The initial setup is quite dynamic.

To be honest, if your company does not have a software developer team, choose something else. If you're not planning to make an SLA, just use something else.

I rate Jira Align a five out of ten.

We use Jira for scrum-related activity and 80 people use this solution within our company. 

In my current organization, there are limited features that we have adopted. In my previous experience, the Portfolio and Structure feature in Jira is really valuable because it assists with forecasting for projects. 

We have experienced errors with the internal server that occurs frequently. 

I have been using this solution for eight years. 

This is a stable solution. I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

In my previous organization, I contacted the Jira support team for a particular feature and they suggested that we upgrade Jira because there was a bug in that particular version. After upgrading, the issue was resolved.

Jira offers very good GUI. The solution is easy to learn and there is a lot of functionality related to boards and project management-related activities that is offered. There is also good synergy between all the Atlassian products which is why we decided to switch to Jira. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing. The price of the solution depends on the number of people using it and the projects you are working on. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

I primarily use Jira Slight to perform agility at scale, a method where you connect businesses with operations, which helps connect the enterprise strategy to the operations. 

Jira Align's most valuable features are the roadmap, the program board, and the reports.

One area for improvement is that Jira Align's double menu and multiple menus can be difficult for new users. They could also improve their search function.

Jira Align is stable and improving all the time.

Jira Align is scalable, with special policies for licenses so you can have a lot of people using it.

Jira's technical support is really helpful, available, and quick to respond.

Positive

The initial setup can be straightforward, but it depends on the availability of Atlassian for technical support. The time required for deployment depends on the user's requirements, taking anywhere from one to six months.

Jira Align is quite expensive for small-to-medium companies, but it's quite reasonable for larger ones.

Jira Align is good for project owners and managers and Release Train Engineers because it offers them more visibility. I would recommend Jira Align for those with scale agile use cases and advise getting some training on the tool in order to get the best use from it. I would give Jira Align a rating of nine out of ten, as it's one of the best tools for scaling agile use cases.