SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER at Matrix Comsec Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
Good charts and reporting, customizable dashboards, and helpful filters
Pros and Cons
  • "Our company follows the Agile methodology for software development, and this product is one of the best tools for companies that do so."
  • "There are a limited number of gadgets accessible in Jira; thus, additional ones should be supported."

What is our primary use case?

Our company follows the Agile methodology for software development, and this product is one of the best tools for companies that do so.

We regularly check the tasks assigned to us, day by day, and create a work log in that task according to what has been done.

You can check today's task assigned to you by using a custom filter, which you can create on your own. We can also make a customized dashboard user-wise.

Upper-level management can analyze the chart and get an overview of the project, giving them the ability to estimate the budget and release date of the project.

How has it helped my organization?

After purchasing Jira, we started shifting to it from the older software we used, like Bugzilla. Bugzilla was being used as our bug reporting tool but after the introduction of Jira, we began to use several of its features. We now use Jira for Scrum Planning, Bug Reporting, Time Tracking, and Budget Tracking.

Day by day, the transparency of the project improves and estimating the project release date becomes easier to do. It is also easy for management-level users to check the project's budget and estimate the release date for a specific feature.

Because there are a number of charts available, looking at them will assist you with any decision that is related to your project.

What is most valuable?

As a user of the Jira, rather than an administrator, the custom dashboard and custom filter are some of the best features from my perspective.

I can manage my own dashboard and by logging into my account every day, I can get information about the day's tasks assigned to me. I can also see my timeline chart, and using that, I can see and understand what has been done in the last week/month.

I have added a gadget on my dashboard that gives me regular updates on the bugs reported by the QA team.

What needs improvement?

Jira is one of the best software applications for project management and budget tracking, but it does have some issues, as follows:

  • Firstly, the filtering feature can be improved to some degree.
  • Because JIRA has so many features, it may take some time to obtain a general knowledge of each one.
  • In order to enhance adoption in small and medium businesses, the cost should be improved.
  • I believe it will be difficult for new users to understand.
  • There are a limited number of gadgets accessible in Jira; thus, additional ones should be supported.
Buyer's Guide
Jira
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

In our organization, we have been Jira since 2017.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, we were using the Bugzilla bug tracking software for reporting bugs from the QA and FITs. Due to the number of problems that we had with it, we purchased Jira and have been using it for approximately five years.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy, and we haven't found any difficulty in that.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is much higher than other similar solutions available in the market, and as such, the vendor should think about a price reduction to make this product more affordable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options before implementing Jira.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Excellent project management tool that offers multiple reporting charts; great user interface
Pros and Cons
  • "Offers great multiple reporting charts."
  • "Integration with some of the automation tools could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is for project management, guiding the teams in our company. The solution allows you to create Scrum boards to deliver all the acquired stories within the Scrum Sprints. It also adapts to any other Jive methodology, like Kanban, and helps the creation of roadmaps for the software, production and implementation. We use it for day-to-day tasks, managing our stories, assigning tasks to different developers, and even integrating it with other system control tools to link the story's details. We are customers of Jira. 

What is most valuable?

The Jira user interface is really helpful because you can see the big picture regardless of what stage the task is at. You can define priorities and estimate times. If, for example, you're planning to move to Scrum, you need a project management tool; JIRA is perfect for that. It can also be used on personal projects because they offer a free plan with unlimited features to manage your project, define your backlog, and check the status of a project. 

The solution comes with multiple reporting charts so you can see the sprint burndown chart and other information. We previously had our own internal tools for Scrum, and moving to Jira was a total upgrade. There's no need to create new accounts for your users. You integrate company emails with an internal server, grant the user access and with their  company credentials, they can log into the platform. That's a pretty good feature. 

What needs improvement?

They could probably improve the integration with some of the automation tools and provide a specialized user interface suitable to their requirements. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable and reliable solution. The whole company uses it and we have around 500 employees. Our team adopted Jira recently but others in the company have been using it for a while. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Jira is very scalable and allows for the integration with source control tools.

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't had to contact technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward, we got access to it and started using it. They also provide you with documentation which helps if you are new to Scrum and new to the platform and features. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is an annual subscription fee based on the number of users. You can get a subscription for just 10 users, for small teams, and if you want more you can buy more. They have a standard and premium license. 

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely recommend this product because it's scalable and easy to use. They provide best practice articles and quick start tutorials which are very helpful. If a new user has all the documentation, they can go from zero to hero very quickly.

I rate this solution a 10 out of 10.  

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Jira
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
767,995 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Partner at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Real User
Stable and flexible with the capability to scale if needed
Pros and Cons
  • "The level of stability is quite good."
  • "I'd like the solution to be more secure."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for collaboration purposes.

What is most valuable?

The solution has basically been problem-free so far.

Overall, we've found the product to be quite flexible.

The level of stability is quite good.

The product can scale if you need it to.

What needs improvement?

I'd like the solution to be more secure.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about six months at this point. It hasn't been that long. I've been using it for less than a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We've enjoyed the stability of the solution. It's good. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs or glitches. The performance is reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale quite well. If a company needs to expand it out, it can do so with relative ease. It's not a pronblem.

Not too many people use the solution in my organization. There are fewer than ten users right now.

We do not have any plans to continue to use the solution, let alone increasing usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never directly dealt with technical support. There was never a need to call. Therefore, I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are. There was never an opportunity to interact.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use another solution before implementing Jira.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't handle any aspect of the installation, and therefore I can't speak to how easy or difficult the implementation was. I'm not sure how long the deployment itself took. I was just handed my login and I was good to go.

What about the implementation team?

As I wasn't involved in the installation process, I can't speak to if a consultant or integrator was used. I have no knowledge of that being the case. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I can't speak to how much a license costs or the process behind setting one up and renewing it. I just use the solution. I don't handle sales or billing.

What other advice do I have?

I'm just a customer and an end-user. I don't have a business relationship with Jira.

It's my understanding that we are using the latest version of the solution, however, I am not 100% positive that is the case. I don't know the version number off-hand. I am also not sure which deployment model we are using and if it is deployed on cloud or on-premises.

I'd recommend the solution to other organizations.

I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten overall.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Lead at a mining and metals company with 51-200 employees
Real User
An all-encompassing, project management solution
Pros and Cons
  • "With the help of Jira, tasks are less likely to remain stagnant for a long time. We always see them somewhere on the board."
  • "There needs to be easier integration with third-parties — personally, this is the biggest issue for me."

What is our primary use case?

Virtually every day we have our daily scrum. Our team gathers around the board, which has all the columns showing where the tasks are standing: requested, planning, ready-coding, review, etc. Together, we view one task after the other and update the statuses. It's really a focal point of the team to know where the work stands, and what's the progress of the work since the last time we checked.

Within my company, there are roughly 25 employees using this solution. We have a scrum master, who's the most knowledgeable person on the tool. usually, they're the ones organizing the tasks, creating new tasks, and then creating the report at the end of the sprint or the quarter. They're the person who's creating the reports, using the more advanced features. That's the scrum master.

There are the developers, including me as a tech lead. There's the tester. There are managers — once in a while we have to present them with some reports and statistics, so they know how much work is being achieved, but they don't have in-depth knowledge of the tool. It's really an internal tool, so the customer is not involved.

We're not expanding much at the moment. We've been expanding in the past year, but now things have slowed down a little bit due to COVID-19.

How has it helped my organization?

With the help of Jira, tasks are less likely to remain stagnant for a long time. We always see them somewhere on the board. Nothing gets forgotten — it forces the team to make a decision on every little task that is planned.

What is most valuable?

The way we can quickly see in which state a task stands — with everything classified by columns. It's easy to know who is taking care of what. For instance, if I want to know how busy the person in charge of QA is, I can easily see what staff members are working for him via a little face icon or a tower. I can see who is responsible for what tasks. The board gives you a quick summary of the workload of everybody on the team.

What needs improvement?

When a task is completed, it disappears and I don't know how to find it. If I want to go back in history to review an old task that we completed, I cannot find it. Unless you remember a keyword or a task number, it can be very difficult to find old tasks.

Sometimes, in the display, there is an overload of information that makes it very difficult to read. If there's too much information, it defeats the purpose. You have to reach a balance, and I think at the moment, there can be too much information.

Sometimes the interface is too crowded. It seems like the default option when you open a task is that everything is open and all of the menus are deployed.

There needs to be easier integration with third-parties — personally, this is the biggest issue for me.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Jira extensively for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Atlassian tools from the Atlassian suite are all linked together. We use GitLab. We wanted to integrate GitLab with Jira because whenever we create a branch in GitLab, for a repository, we create a branch to develop a feature or to fix a bug. Once the work is done, we have to merge that back into the master branch. When we do the merge, we name the merge and we enter a reference to a Jira issue.

It's easy after that. The person who's taking care of and viewing the merge requests can just click somewhere on a piece of information in the merge request, and it brings you to Jira, to the associated tasks. Usually, for each task, we end up creating a branch; it gets reviewed and merged back into the master. Once the review is done, it's ready to be tested.

That's our work procedure. Basically, the two tools — GitLab and Jira — need to be integrated with each other, but at the moment, there is a bug and It doesn't work. IT reported that problem to Jira or GitLab, but we have not heard back. 

There is a problem when it comes to integrating Jira with other tools, or other tools with Jira, there seems to be a weakness there.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Adding more users is not a problem. We haven't tried to add a third-party or to integrate with a third-party, so I can't comment on that. 

We don't tend to use Jira outside of its purpose at the moment. It's hard to answer this because we just add or remove users; we're not trying to upscale it to a higher scope or anything.

How are customer service and technical support?

I go through IT for technical support. Except for that problem I mentioned, the integration between GitLab and Jira, we tend to find the answers pretty quickly.

Jira offers good technical support.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't help with the initial set up myself. Since we have web access, you don't have to install anything. It was already installed when I joined the company.

What about the implementation team?

Our IT team handles all maintenance-related issues. They don't necessarily know all the menus of Jira, all its capabilities, but they know how to deploy it.

What other advice do I have?

Have a training session before you begin using it. That tool is good for teamwork, but it doesn't replace a face-to-face discussion. Among yourselves and your teams, establish some conventions as to how you will describe your tasks — what criteria will be acceptable? Include a section for requirements, have a section dedicated to discovering your setup because the tool has its limits. It helps you organize your work, but it doesn't replace the self-discipline of the developers to stick to some team conventions — that's also really helpful to get the full benefits of that tool.

One of the main advantages is that everything becomes visible when you use this tool. When your work is done in full daylight, it's difficult at the beginning because you feel like everybody's looking at what you do — it's all visible. They can access the information through JIRA, but at the same time, you're not going to get stuck too long in your corner. The drawback is that you feel more like you are being spied on. It feels like you're working in an aquarium. Everything you do is visible. But at the same time, you're not going to get stuck on your own. Without this tool, it's easy to get stuck on your own.

There's room for improvement. Sometimes the window is too crowded and the integration capabilities need to be improved. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Jira a rating of eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user147543 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Easy to configure, fast to configure, extremely powerful workflows & schemes. I'd like better JIRA Agile integration.

What is most valuable?

Easy to configure, very fast to configure, extremely powerful workflows and schemes, integrates with other Atlassian tools as well as 3rd party tools.

How has it helped my organization?

Collaboration and software development lifecycle were the 2 keys that JIRA served great for. We have multiple organizations in the company already using JIRA for tracking projects.

What needs improvement?

Better JIRA Agile integration and more functionality related to JIRA Agile plugin

For how long have I used the solution?

JIRA: 10 years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We didn't encounter any deployment issues

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We didn't encounter any stability issues

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We didn't encounter any scalability issues

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

9/10

Technical Support:

8/10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Remedy, Bugzilla, Clearcase, TestTrack and Rally have all been replaced with JIRA with my leadership

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward

What about the implementation team?

In-House

What was our ROI?

60%

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

10 years ago 2K initially and 1K for additional plugins. recently 10K for the Atlassian Suite and additional plugins.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

HP QTP, Serena Business Manager, Rally

What other advice do I have?

It rocks simply.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user229578 - PeerSpot reviewer
COO with 51-200 employees
Vendor
The Service Desk feature allows us to keep us and our clients on the same page for invoicing and project status, but it needs more options for alerts and an enhanced Service Desk module.

Valuable Features:

JIRA features are agile planning and release notes. We heavily use the Service Desk to support our product customers, and we also provide support for our services customers via JIRA tickets with a time tracking plug-in so invoicing, project status, are available to everyone us and our clients, keeping us on the same page.

Improvements to My Organization:

We are now using this system for all time tracking of internal non-billable projects, support contracts, development tasks and billable work. We can see our resources utilization and track how much time was spent on each client, which is good for invoicing, on Go2Group made products. This helps with our ROI on a product by product basis, and we even track our time off in this system.

It has enabled us to be on the same page with our client’s they can see the tasks and burn downs and exactly where their money is being spent. When we combine this with the Confluence Wiki, we now have a very robust Q&A and documentation page. We use it for sign-offs and online documentation. There is a history of what folks have done, and the information is radiated out in near real time. It is all there.

We can serve multiple clients, our own internal products, projects, and operations from one system cutting the resources needed to run these systems. Compliance is much easier to achieve, documentation, you need to sort out what needs to be displayed and reported in the formats you wish.

All in all, these tools, with little effort or cost, have allowed us to provide, what larger consulting and product firms struggle to provide due to legacy products/system/acquisitions, and compliance.

Room for Improvement:

A more enhanced Service Desk module, with support for more types of alarms and the like.

Initial Setup:

The product is very easy to download, and install. Once downloaded, you just click next, OK, then viola! You are a newly minted JIRA Administrator, it is too easy. Teams, company data, and processes end up growing from grass roots movement before management realize it.

Cost and Licensing Advice:

While Atlassian and TFS seem to be more of the toolsets that companies are adopting, and they are great core ALM stacks to build upon, you are still going to need tools from other vendors for most environments. For instance, you have more strenuous support desk needs, there is ServiceNow. If you make cars, boats, aeroplanes, trains, etc., you will most likely need IBM Rational DOORS. High end testing is still the domain of HP ALM/QC. Aerospace higher-end agile planning, you could look at JIRA Agile or VersionOne, or Rally. Embedded C, etc.

To summarize, MS TFS and/or Atlassian (maker of JIRA) are good core ALM stacks to run your shop on. The remaining issues are generally around how to integrate other systems to TFS or Atlassian, and also, how to migrate to TFS/Atlassian.

Other Solutions Considered:

We are a heavy user of the Atlassian tools and are a reseller. We do VAR work for other competing ALM solutions as well, notably Microsoft, IBM, HP, Perforce, etc. This is just the toolset we have grown into.

Other Advice:

Then they look into the systems and realize what risks there are and are usually slow on the uptake to designate these systems as Class A or B critical systems. They may be surprised at how many individual systems have sprouted across their organizations. You can find yourself in an organization with multiple JIRA instances due to the grass roots nature of adoption, with dozens of workflows and hundreds of custom fields in each instance.

It can be a lot of work to pull these together under compliance and DevOps. Would be much easier to accept these tools as mission critical, or at least realize their importance, and grow them correctly.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are Atlassian resellers and are a VAR for other ALM solutions.
PeerSpot user
HeshamFouad - PeerSpot reviewer
Quality and Technical Support Department Manager at dsquares
Real User
Top 10
Easy to deploy and reasonably priced but not very user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "It's easy to deploy."
  • "Once the solution is deployed, it's not easy to configure."

What is most valuable?

It's scalable.

It's easy to deploy.

The cost of the solution seems to be reasonable. 

What needs improvement?

Once the solution is deployed, it's not easy to configure. If you have a lot of capability, it's very dynamic from the back end. Therefore, when setting up the workflows, it can be a little bit complex. We did a lot of functions on managing the development and that's why maybe it's a little bit complex. Basically, in order to design a workflow in Jira, it's not a straightforward task.

From a feature perspective, not much is missing. However, they need to put some investment into the user experience. It needs to be easier to use, more friendly, especially on the configuration part. It's a hassle. You need to deal with a high learning curve in order to understand how it's configured and how it can work.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've used the solution for more than eight years now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

We have more than 50 people using Jira at this time. 

We do plan to increase usage. We are growing. Since we are growing, we are increasing Jira as each member on the technology team needs an account for development, business analysis, or testing.

How was the initial setup?

While the initial setup is pretty simple and straightforward, handling the configurations and the workflows can be complex. 

I didn't attend this in the development phase. In testing, I did the same effort and it took me a month to set up while I was deploying a test stream. I worked on the testing workflow as well, the defect workflow. That said, I don't know how long it takes for them to configure Jira.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the setup in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing is per unit. My understanding is that it is pretty affordable. However, I don't directly deal with licensing.

What other advice do I have?

We are just a customer and an end-user.

From a testing point of view, I would rate it at a six out of ten. I use it as a defect management tool, and it, for me, it's not easy to use.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Process Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Has flexibility and integrates well with other products like GitLab
Pros and Cons
  • "It allows you to do a lot of stuff, and the functionality is pretty rich. It integrates well with other products, like GitLab, that we are currently intensely using at the company."
  • "The solution could be more user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

Some of the use cases are for tracking issues and bugs.

I am responsible for an administering job for Atlassian Jira at my company. I'm working for some of the major IT companies in Kazakhstan.

The solution is deployed on-premises.

What is most valuable?

The solution is valuable because it's pretty flexible. It allows you to do a lot of stuff, and the functionality is pretty rich. It integrates well with other products, like GitLab, that we are currently intensely using at the company.

What needs improvement?

The solution could be more user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Jira within the past year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. There are a few dozen users using this solution. We might increase the usage in the future.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I previously worked with ClickUp and would suggest using it. It's a competitor to Atlassian Jira.

When it comes to functionality and usability, I think ClickUp is better, but compared to Jira, ClickUp's drawback is their integrations with other products. The product is not old enough to be mature.

Jira is more flexible and more integrative with other products, and ClickUp is more user-friendly. The functionality is pretty rich.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 9 out of 10. 

The only thing that I'd like to advise is to just monitor the market and keep an eye on comparison between the Jira and ClickUp.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.