Jira Tool

In order to direct teams towards the completion of work, project leads must be able to appropriately schedule work and assign tasks for their team to accomplish. Performing these tasks manually can be anything from a mild inconvenience to juggling a mammoth task. This is where software such as Jira Tool comes in.

This article will examine Jira Tool and how it aids project managers, especially throughout the software development process.

What is Jira Tool? 

Jira is a family of software purposed to help teams keep track and accomplish their work. It was initially developed by Atlassian. Originally, the software was designed to keep track of issues and bugs encountered during software development.

These days, however, the software has evolved into an all-encompassing tool to facilitate several use cases, from agile software development to task management.

Is Jira Tool Agile or Waterfall?

Jira is a tool that assists teams in creating an agile workflow. The software itself was designed with the agile methodology in mind. However, you can also use it for managing a traditional waterfall project with its robust feature set.

Different Use Cases

Today, software developers have adopted Jira for several use cases. Below, we’ll take a look at some of the functions and features provided by the Jira Tool for accomplishing different tasks. 

1. For Software Development

Jira Tool has become an effective instrument for managing software development teams. With the software, project managers can map out the development cycle for budget management until product roll-out.

Additionally, Jira Tool can make project managers’ work simpler by providing a space where they can jot down the project roadmap and manage stakeholders. Finally, Jira Tool features continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) implementation to enable better transparency throughout the software lifecycle. 

Some templates that help manage software development teams are: 

• Release Planning
• Sprint Planning
• CI/CD Integration 
• Project Backlog
• Developer Tool Integration 
• Feature Flagging 
• Issue Management 

With the help of Jira Tools, software development teams can reference the project’s progress and prioritize tasks accordingly.

2. For Bug Tracking 

Jira Tool was initially made to track issues and bugs. The software still includes integrations for these features. With it, teams can keep on top of the issues and bugs that crop up during the duration of the software development process.

First, the software tracks bugs and integrates them into the project backlog. Then, Jira Tool can assign priority to the issues and bugs based on how much they will affect the project. After that, the team can track the bug status to see when and how it is resolved.

Through Jira Tool, teams have access to bug tracking features such as: 

• Task/Bug Linking 
• Customizable Workflow
• Project Rules 
• Email Notifications 
• Product/Issue Backlog
• Project Level Configuration

3. For DevOps Teams 

DevOps is a process of streamlining the communication and workflow between software development teams and IT teams. Jira Tool complements DevOps and allows for better product automation, testing, and release. Jira Tool accomplishes this through first and third-party software integration.

For instance, Jira Tool includes integration for code and version control software such as Github. It also provides consolidation for tools used for monitoring, such as Opsgenie.

Jira Tool can help DevOps teams release software faster and more reliably through powerful software integration.

How To Use Jira Tool?

A project management tool should be easy to use so that it doesn’t impede the workflow. If you’ve never used Jira Tool, that’s okay because we’ve outlined below how you can quickly get started.

Here’s a step-by-step process of using the Jira Tool. 

1. Set up an account
2. Open the Jira Tool software
3. Navigate to the “project” tab and click “create project.”
4. Click “backlog” on the sidebar
5. Click on the “create” option on the taskbar to create a task/issue
6. Select the project you just created
7. Select the type of task you’re creating, either:
   1. Epic - The end goal of the project
   2. Story - Task required to achieve the “epic”
   3. Task - A subtask required for a story
   4. Bug - Issues that need to be resolved
8. Name and create a summary of the task you created
9. Select an assignee for the task
10. Click create on the pop-up window
11. Click the “create sprint” button
12. Drag the tasks in the backlog into the sprint window
13. Click “start sprint”
14. Name the sprint
15. Select the duration, start date, and end date
16. Click the “start” button
17. A new window will appear listing the tasks within the sprint
18. Drag tasks between the “to-do,” “in progress,” and “done” columns based on the status of the task

As you can see, Jira Tool allows you to create a complete workflow for every project and ensure that it’s carefully managed from start to finish.

What is a Jira Issue? 

Jira Issues are the type of tasks you can create within the Jira Tool. These are the tasks you can select to break down a project. 

Project managers can use Jira Issues to divide tasks within the Jira Tool into easily digestible components. The type of Jira Issues include: 

1. Epic 
2. Story 
3. Task 
4. Bug 

Jira Tool: An Integral Tool for Project Managers

Without the proper tools, project managers can have a tough time managing their team and keeping on top of the project’s progress. Jira Tool provides project managers with a go-to tool that can help guide teams toward software releases.