Corporate Performance Lead at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Flexible and scalable with good add-ons available
Pros and Cons
  • "The workflows are very easy to handle as far as scalability goes."
  • "The user interface is very detailed right now. It could be simplified if they consider targeting the user experience."

What is our primary use case?

We use Jira product in the organization to automate the software development life cycle.

What is most valuable?

It's a very flexible product.

We can change the workflows as much as we need and we've done that already. 

The workflows are very easy to handle as far as scalability goes.

If there is a feature or a workflow feature, that is required and it's not available out of the box from Jira, from Atlassian, we have the marketplace buy from. There are a number of add-ons that we use. We have maybe 20 to 25 that fill in any gaps in the system itself.

What needs improvement?

The user interface is very detailed right now. It could be simplified if they consider targeting the user experience. Right now, on the screen pre-design, the amount of information on the screen is very high. The distribution is good, however, the presentation itself looks very technical. They should work to streamline the UI to make it better for users to digest the information.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been dealing with the solution for two years now.

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Jira
March 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. We haven't had issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze on us. It's quite good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable in terms of the number of users and the number of features. The features we are using are mostly out of the box, however, we have added product management features and code delivered with the integration features. We also have added test management tools or add-ons to it including reporting and dashboarding as well. You can really grow it out and add as many plug-in apps and features as you want.

Currently, we have 500 users that interact with Jira within our organization.

How are customer service and support?

We have good internal technical support for Jira in the organization and we use the Atlassian technical support only when needed. Thus far, we are quite satisfied with the level of support we receive.

How was the initial setup?

I cannot give too much information about the installation, as we're similar to a consultant, and I don't want to get into too many details. As the installation engine, we took two days straight to deploy it and that is with the implementation.

For deployment, you don't need a huge team. We did it with two technical personnel. They are consultant level system administrators.

What other advice do I have?

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with Jira.

We're using the latest version minus one, due to the fact that it was installed year. That upgrade was last year and it is my understanding that there is another version coming up.

I'd recommend this solution to other companies.

The product is very scalable and it's very flexible to match any organization, however, the trick to using Jira effectively is that there should be a business process documented in place before using it straight. The mistake that many people do is they consider the tool as the base and they configure their processes according to this. If they work the other way around and have a great process between all cycles, and then implement that process on Jira, it's very beneficial.

Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

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
PeerSpot user
Software Developer at DataStax
Real User
It is a platform that gives the user the option to customize its interface

What is our primary use case?

This software is implemented in the different departments of the company since it allows us to plan, organize and verify or monitor the different projects we develop day by day, thus improving communication and workflow.

How has it helped my organization?

The implementation of JIRA in the different business departments has allowed us to increase labor productivity since the teams work much more efficiently thanks to the tools provided by this powerful platform, which has made the communication much more specific and better. And when planning any task, the whole team is aware of every detail.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features or functions that I have found in this software are several but mainly that it is a platform that gives the user the option to customize its interface to the point that it can be fully adapted to the team that implements it. This generates a great advantage since it is much easier for users to adapt to it and be able to work in a much more comfortable and highly effective way, in addition to providing tools that can be followed up on tasks or projects and give priority to them. It is really useful because in this way the team can focus on those who need a much closer delivery date.

What needs improvement?

This product or software still requires improvements, especially in its interface since its learning curve is somewhat high because it offers so many features that the user tends to get confused, or the software adaptation time is much longer than it should be. Besides, its configuration is not very simple, and its support team sometimes does not respond immediately, so it is often necessary to solve problems on their own.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Although it still requires many improvements, it is a software that is kept updated to ensure that its users can be much more pleased when using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Its scalability is somewhat limited since it is based on the number of users, and when wanting to obtain a greater number of users, the prices are somewhat high.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their customer service sometimes tends to fail because problems are not attended to immediately, but it is something that is not consecutive. But nevertheless, I believe that in an emergency this could bring problems.

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

We have not used another solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

The initial configuration was complex because it is not simple, and that's because the software does not provide enough information to understand it.

What about the implementation team?

It was initially implemented by the suppliers since it is somewhat complex and the team was not yet ready to perform it, but they had a really positive performance.

What was our ROI?

The investment has been fair since we have obtained advantages from its implementation, mainly because productivity has increased.

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

It should be very clear about the plan that you want to implement and what number of users will use it. In this way, you will pay for what you really need and will cover your needs since this software is based on the number of users implementing the same plan.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

This software is ideal for tracking problems, managing, planning and carrying out real-time monitoring of the tasks or projects you want to develop in a much simpler way and in the shortest possible time. So I think that if you are looking for a solution that is based on more than the management, this is the indicated choice.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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Jira
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Jira. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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Sr. Test Analyst at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
JIRA can be used as a Test Management tool but there are a few areas which need to be improved as compared with HP ALM.

What is most valuable?

As a Test Analyst my first requirement is to have a tool where I can create a repository for all my test activities like test cases, test execution, defects and reports. Zephyr is an add-on which provides facility to use JIRA as a test management tool. We can write test cases, add versions, create test cycles and execute cases. To make life easy JIRA comes with a dashboard where I can add different gadgets to generate reports on different criteria.

How has it helped my organization?

My organization uses Wiki and JIRA both for requirement gathering, but very few know the capability of JIRA as a test management solution. People in the past used to write and execute test cases in WIKI and also log the defects from there. This not only made it difficult to manage the test cases and defect, but also there are no reports which can be extracted out of it. It becomes very difficult to fetch efficiency in each test cycles. Also, we were not able to track test coverage because we couldn't link requirement with test cases in Wiki. But after JIRA provided us a feature to use it as test management we are managing all these very effectively.

What needs improvement?

Though JIRA can be used as a Test Management tool, it is not complete by itself. There are still a few niggles in it as compared to other products like HP ALM. We can export the reports in xls or pdf. Also whenever we fail any test steps, the test does not fail by itself, we need to manually select fail from status drop down. JIRA does not provide any lock feature for a test case if any person is working on that case. In fact, both people can assess the same case at the same time.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using JIRA for the past 2 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I found JIRA to be a stable product and didn't have any issues with the response time as compared with HP ALM. Only a couple of times during last 2 years it was down for few hours.

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

I worked on HP QC 9 & 10 before JIRA. There were no issues with these tools to switch to JIRA, but the tool used fora project always depends on management, user benefits and cost involved in it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user226503 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user226503Sr. Test Analyst at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Vendor

@Sachin Well this can be true for JIRA, but ZEPHYR for JIRA is an Addon helps us to use JIRA as test management tool. We can create, plan, execute test from JIRA and also there are various other features. And also I never mentioned that JIRA is a test management tool but can be used as one.

See all 6 comments
it_user158856 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Project Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Jira has gone from being a simple bug tracker to a full development planning suite; so SO many areas could be improved.

What is most valuable?

For the most part the system is simple to use and simple to administer.

How has it helped my organization?

When I began I was part of a very small development team that did not have any formal bug tracking in place. Jira has gone from being a simple bug tracker to a full development planning suite, in addition to tracking our support and production tasks.

What needs improvement?

There are so, SO many areas that I couldn’t even begin to count. A cursory glance at fixes and improvements requested by users would speak volumes. The most basic of requests have been allowed to languish for years, many over a decade. (really) The most basic improvement would be to offer WYSIWYG text editing. There are open source packages that could easily be integrated, but Atlassian wants people to buy Confluence. Bulk editing multi-value fields should not be limited to overwriting what is already there. There should be an append mode offered.

For how long have I used the solution?

We’ve had Jira in place for 6 ½ years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

I have not had any issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None to date.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

None to date, though we did need to move to a new server to meet our growing needs.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Atlassian’s customer service used to be wonderful. There was phone support that was always accessible. Support is absolutely terrible now. All support is performed via email and the response time is long. Often multiple messages need to be exchanged before a point is made and understood.

Technical Support:

Not the worst but definitely no longer the best.

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

No solution was in place prior to Jira.

How was the initial setup?

Our initial setup was fairly straightforward, though all we run on the server is the bare minimum needed to get Jira up and running.

What about the implementation team?

IT put the server together for me and I took care of the rest.

What was our ROI?

In the beginning it was fantastic. The annual license renewal was definitely worth it for phone support and significant improvements in Jira. Nowadays the “improvements” are lackluster at best, and phone support is gone. The annual renewal would be worth it to stay current with the latest releases, but Atlassian’s plugin support is lacking; lack of plugin support has stopped us from upgrading, and continues to.

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

I don’t recall the original start up cost. The initial license fee was considerably lower than it is today, and had no limits on the number of users. Today, apart from the general costs of maintaining the server, we have the annual license renewal fee.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I looked at Trac, Bugzilla, Test Track.

What other advice do I have?

Before making a decision have a look at the requested features and bug fixes – see what has not been addressed and what the plans are to address the features of greatest interest to you.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user150291 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Executive, IT Developer at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Our development team and it's functional staff have gained a better overview of the issues that are being worked on

What is most valuable?

<ul> <li>Ability to search old issues.</li> <li>Ability to create your own tags and fields, ie customization.</li> <li>Easy of use. I have trained several non-it people in its usage and they all say it's really easy software to use.</li> </ul>

How has it helped my organization?

Our development team and it's functional staff have gained a better overview of the issues that are being worked on and what issued are getting delivered in a patch.

What needs improvement?

Perhaps a built in "Jira-Capture"

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it at 3-4 different companies over the last 8 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

None

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

None

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Current company, only a small userbase of about 25 users. Previous company perhaps 150-200 users - no issues whatsoever. (We're in Norway, not many people here.)

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

Previous solutions ... did not work - to put it mildly.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward setup.

What about the implementation team?

In House

What was our ROI?

Previous product cost us about 100.000 NOK/yearly (USD 15,000/year). JIRA costs us perhaps around 25.000NOK (USD 3,800) on time setup cost with all the plugins we've purchased.

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

Time spent setting things up. Perhaps one or two hours a week on average for one developer.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, did not evaluate other options, as JIRA fulfilled our need.

What other advice do I have?

Go for it!
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sr. Devops Architect Manager at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Stable and scalable but needs to integrate with other DevOps tools
Pros and Cons
  • "We have around 2000 plus users, so scale wise, there are no issues. We can easily scale up with multiple users."
  • "Jira is a project management tracking tool, and it would be great to see integration with the source front or Azure DevOps, etc."

What needs improvement?

Jira is a project management tracking tool, and it would be great to see integration with the source front or Azure DevOps, etc. The history of tasks, such as check-in and checkout, is not maintained under the particular Jira ticket. For example, in Azure DevOps management for a work item you can find out any chain set and dependency.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Jira for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 2000 plus users, so scale wise, there are no issues. We can easily scale up with multiple users.

What other advice do I have?

I'm coming from an Azure DevOps background, and we use the integration board. It is very easy because the source code is there under one umbrella; however, Jira is not under the Azure DevOps umbrella. If your company is using Azure DevOps or Git as a repository, I recommend using the Azure DevOps board rather than Jira.

I would rate Jira at seven on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Enterprise Solution Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Not user-friendly, and the interface needs improvement, but it's stable and well-known
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Jira is that it's a well-known tool that many people are familiar with."
  • "It is not user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a consulting company. I provide solutions for many companies, and in some cases, I implement Jira. DevOps is something else that I provide for my clients.

Our clients range in all sizes. I have microscopic clients, such as a one-man company, and on the other end of the spectrum, I have the New Zealand government, for example.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Jira is that it's a well-known tool that many people are familiar with.

What needs improvement?

Jira is not the best tool; I just don't like it.

I am not looking to improve Jira. I have transitioned to using Azure DevOps or GitHub.

I don't like the interface or the way it is structured. I prefer the way it is done in Azure DevOps.

It is not user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been acquainted with Jira for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Jira is a stable solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support.

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

We are also providing Azure DevOps.

I would recommend DevOps because it is more user-friendly and easier to use.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the initial setup of Jira.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Jira a five out of ten.

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
Chief Software Architect at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Real User
Scalable, great for project management, and is very stable
Pros and Cons
  • "Overall, the solution is very nice and has a variety of great features."
  • "For me, the solution is too complicated as it has too many features. It would be nice if they could streamline things."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use the solution for project management. We are using Jira for our software development purposes only. Usually, we create a Jira project for each project and develop it according to its size. We assign team members who will belong to those projects, each project. Then, we manage everything using Jira.

Basically, the main purpose of using Jira is just planning and then checking issues. That's all for now.

How has it helped my organization?

We can lean on Jira completely during projects, even in terms of all the small things, surrounding planning. There are error reports, and we can take in the progress. We are not using any other tool except Jira for managing software development, including the testing and reports and following up.

What is most valuable?

Overall, the solution is very nice and has a variety of great features. 

The stability of the solution has been quite good.

We haven't had any issues with scalability.

It's a very useful project management tool.

What needs improvement?

For me, the solution is too complicated as it has too many features. It would be nice if they could streamline things.

They can make it a little bit better in terms of the user interface. Some things are very scattered. It is a bit confusing. They developed a new user interface, and I cannot follow the changes. There's documentation, however, it's not so good.

The solution has a pretty steep learning curve. It would be great if they could lessen the learning curve by providing more templates and ready-made options for new users to take advantage of.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for almost two years. It's been a while.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, we haven't experienced any crash or anything like that. There are no bugs or glitches. We haven't suffered any issue with the Jira service itself so far.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Due to the fact that we are using the cloud service of Jira, we don't have any experience with any lagging or delaying or any of those kinds of issues yet. The team is managing this scalability and can scale up and down their resources automatically in the background. I don't have any issues with the scalability that's provided.

We are a small organization. We only have a team of 20 developers. We might increase usage in the future, should our team grow.

How are customer service and technical support?

We haven't had to reach out to technical support just yet. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't directly involved in the implementation process. I can't speak to what cloud the product is on or the exact details of the deployment.

We have only two people for the Jira management. We are only paying attention to security. We ensure we are giving the right permission to the right person, that is the only factor we are focusing on. 

What other advice do I have?

We are just customers and end-users.

As we are using the cloud version of the solution, we are always on the most up-to-date version.

For simple project management, Jira is too much. If you want to manage a project precisely, however, then I can recommend Jira. It's not only a software-specific version. There are different versions of Jira so that you can apply it to different areas - not just software. That is one good aspect. I'd say that it is very polished, and has a very well-defined approach to project management. 

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've mostly been happy with how it's worked for us.

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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
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Download our free Jira Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.