What Is Jira?

Jira is one of the most widely used project management and issue-tracking tools, designed to automate workflows and enable faster collaboration across teams. Developed by Atlassian, Jira initially focused on software development but has since evolved into a versatile platform catering to industries such as HR, marketing, IT, and more.

Whether you’re managing complex and Agile projects, tracking team performance, or organizing individual tasks, Jira offers a suite of tools to enhance productivity and increase efficiency. Take a comprehensive look at Jira to understand its features, learn best practices, and see how to get started with the tool.

What is Jira used for?

At its core, Jira helps teams manage tasks, track progress, and stay organized. Some of its primary use cases include:

• Project management: Jira has Kanban board support, enabling teams to plan, execute, and monitor projects. Agile teams also use Jira to organize sprints, manage backlogs, and track story points.

• Bug and issue tracking: Originally built for this purpose, Jira allows teams to log, prioritize, and resolve bugs efficiently throughout the development cycle.

• Workflow management: Its customizable workflows make Jira ideal for creating processes tailored to a team’s specific needs.

• Marketing campaign management: Beyond these IT use cases, Jira is also a valuable tool for managing marketing campaigns and ensuring timely delivery of assets. 

Understanding Jira

Jira’s diverse applications make it an indispensable tool for teams across industries. Examine its key features to understand how Jira differentiates itself from other tools of its kind.

Key features of Jira

Jira offers a robust suite of features to meet the demands of complex projects, including:

• Backlogs and roadmaps: Manage and prioritize tasks with clear data visualization and project timelines.

• Dashboards and reports: Gain actionable insights through customizable dashboards and reports, such as a burndown chart or velocity graph.

• Automation rules: Automate repetitive tasks like assigning issues or sending notifications to save time and reduce human error.

• Customizable workflows: Adapt workflows to fit specific team processes, enabling smoother transitions and approvals.

How Jira differs from other project management tools

Jira stands out from the competition for its depth and flexibility. Its tools empower teams to stay organized, track progress, and deliver results effectively. Unlike Trello or Monday.com, Jira can handle complex, multistep projects with detailed reporting and analytics. Its integration capabilities with tools like Confluence and Bitbucket further enhance its appeal, particularly for technical teams.

Core functions and tools in Jira

Jira is a trusted platform for a variety of tasks, including issue tracking, workflow customization, and analytics.

Issue tracking and management

Jira helps track issues across their lifecycle. Teams can create, assign, and monitor tasks while maintaining full transparency. You can categorize tasks, or “issues,” into epics and stories, providing clarity on each task’s priority and progress.

Workflow customization

With Jira, workflows can be as simple or complex as needed. Teams can define stages like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done” (and add custom statuses to reflect their processes).

Project reporting and analytics

Jira’s analytics tools allow teams to evaluate performance and make data-driven decisions, including: 

• Sprint burndown charts: Track progress within a sprint to ensure timely completion.

• Velocity charts: Measure work completed across sprints to gauge productivity.

• Custom dashboards: Tailor reports to highlight the metrics most relevant to your team.

Integrations with other platforms

Jira integrates with popular tools like Confluence for documentation, GitHub for version control, and Slack for communication. These integrations create a cohesive ecosystem that streamlines workflows and improves collaboration.

Best practices for using Jira

Keep these tips and tricks in mind when using Jira:

Create effective Jira workflows

Design workflows that align with your team’s processes. Keep them simple at the start, focusing on basic steps like task assignment, progress tracking, and completion. As your team becomes more comfortable, introduce custom transitions and automation rules to improve efficiency.

Manage permissions and access

Properly managing permissions is essential for security and efficiency. Use Jira’s role-based access controls to ensure team members can only access what they need.

Ensure consistency and efficiency

Establish clear guidelines for using Jira to ensure consistency across the team. This includes naming conventions for tasks and projects, standardized labels and priorities, and regularly reviewing and updating workflows to adapt to team changes.

Who uses Jira?

Jira’s versatility makes it suitable for a variety of users, including:

• Software development teams: Track sprints, manage backlogs, and resolve bugs.

• IT departments: Track incidents and manage infrastructure.

• Marketing teams: Plan and execute campaigns, track tasks, and manage deliverables.

• Human resources: Streamline onboarding and track employee progress.

• Small businesses: Manage day-to-day operations and optimize team collaboration.

Pros and cons of using Jira

What is Jira best used for? As with any project management tool, Jira has both benefits and disadvantages.

Pros

• Comprehensive features: Jira provides all the tools for complex project management.

• Customizability: Tailor workflows, reports, and dashboards to your team’s needs.

• Scalability: Jira is suitable for teams of any size, from small startups to large enterprises.

Cons

• Steep learning curve: New users may find the interface overwhelming at first.

• Cost: While affordable for large teams, add-ons can make it expensive.

• Customization overload: Over-customization can lead to too much complexity.

Getting started with Jira

To begin, create an account on Atlassian’s website and choose a project template that fits your needs. Then, customize settings such as the project name, workflow steps, and issue types.

Next, create and organize tasks (called “issues”) in Jira. You can organize by sprints, backlogs, or epics using labels, tags, and priorities. Assign tasks to team members with clear due dates to maintain accountability.

Use automation to handle repetitive actions, regularly review your backlog, and update task statuses to keep everyone on the same page.

Learn about Jira with Coursera

If you’re hoping to use Jira to manage IT and other projects, learn more with Professional Certificates on Coursera. For example, the IBM IT Project Manager Professional Certificate and the Google Project Management: Professional Certificate can help you learn how to track and manage projects through a project lifecycle.