What Is JIRA? A Beginners Guide On How To Use JIRA

Download ebook

Have you ever considered how project management is done effectively in these highly collaborative work environments? The answer is with the help of JIRA, an acronym for “Issue and Project Tracking Software”. Wondering what is JIRA and how it helps? Well, in my blog all your doubts will be cleared.

JIRA is a project management software and a powerful tool widely used by teams across various industries to manage and track their projects efficiently. Whether you are on a software development team belong to a marketing department or even in a non-technical group, JIRA can help streamline your workflow and boost productivity.

Through my beginner’s guide, you will get to know what is JIRA along with all the necessary knowledge related to this project management software.

But, before moving further, let’s have a look at the Project Management Course by Henry Harvin, one of the top educational institutes.

What Is JIRA?

JIRA is a versatile project management tool developed by Atlassian (an Australian company). The term JIRA has been derived from the Japanese term “Gojira” meaning Godzilla. It is designed to help industries track, plan, and release their projects seamlessly. JIRA is primarily used for Agile methodologies but can also be adapted to various other project management methodologies. JIRA facilitates collaboration, issue tracking, and workflow management, enabling the teams to manage tasks effectively, track progress, and communicate effortlessly.

Key Components, and Terminologies:

In order to understand what is JIRA, it is essential to know some of the key concepts and terminologies related to this project management software:

• Issues: An issue means a bug, a task, or a project requirement. Issues can be assigned to team members, prioritized, and tracked throughout their lifecycle.
• Projects: A project in this tool represents a collection of issues related to a specific goal.
• Workflows: JIRA allows you to define custom workflows representing the stages of an issue’s progress. Workflows include the steps like “To Do”, “In Progress”, “Review”, and “Done”.
• Dashboards: Boards provide a visual representation of your project’s workflow. They are customizable based on criteria, hence making it easier to monitor the progress. 

How To Use JIRA:

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use this project management tool:

1. Access JIRA:

Open your web browser and navigate to the JIRA instance. Login using your credentials.

2. Understand JIRA’s Terminology:

Familiarize yourself with the terms like Project, Issue, Workflow, and Board.

3. Create a Project:

Create a project by clicking on the “create” button and selecting “project”. Provide the required details like project name, key, project lead, and project template.

4. Create an Issue:

Click on the “create” button and select “issue”. Choose the appropriate issue type like task, bug, or story. After this provide the necessary details and add any relevant attachments.

5. Customize Issue Fields:

This project management software allows you to define custom fields specific to your project requirements. You can create and configure custom fields by accessing the “Administration” settings.

6. Organize Issues:

This helps in categorizing and filtering issues for better management.

7. Track Issues:

In this case, once issues are created, you can update their status and track them.

8. Configure Workflows:

A workflow defines the transitions an issue goes through, like “To Do”, “In Progress”, “Testing”, and “Done”.

9. Create and Configure Boards:

Create a board and configure it according to your project methodology (Scrum or Kanban). 

10. Collaborate with Team Members:

Assign issues to specific individuals, and use mentions (@) to notify team members.

11. Monitor and Report:

JIRA offers various reporting capabilities to track project progress, monitor team performance, and identify bottlenecks.

Use Of JIRA In Product Management:

JIRA is widely used in product management to streamline the entire product development lifecycle and facilitate effective collaboration among the product team. Here are a few points to know what is JIRA and its use in product management:

• Sprint Planning: Under this, product managers create sprints, define their duration, and select the items to be included in each sprint. 
• Issue Tracking: It serves as an issue-tracking tool for product managers. The team can create issues to represent bugs or defects. 
• Backlog Management: It helps product managers maintain a prioritized backlog of work items.
• Task Management: This tool allows product managers to break down requirements into smaller, actionable tasks.
• Collaboration and Communication: It offers features for communicating among team members.

JIRA Issues and Issue Types:

An issue refers to a unit of work that needs to be completed within a project. It provides a flexible system for defining and managing different types of issues called “issue types”. By defining the issue types, the team can capture and organize the different types of work that need to be done. Here’s a set of standard issue types:

• Task: Represents a to-do item that needs to be completed.
• Sub-task: It is a smaller unit of work and a part of a larger task or issue.
• Bug: This represents a software defect/issue that needs to be fixed.
• Epic: It is a large work item that spans multiple iterations/sprints.
• Story: A story represents a user requirement or a feature request. 
• Improvement: Represents a suggested improvement or enhancement to existing functionality.
• New Feature: It represents the introduction of a new functionality or feature.

Uses Of JIRA:

Now that we know what is JIRA and some facts related to it. let’s discuss how it can also be used for various purposes within an organization.

Let’s learn some of its uses:

• Agile Project Management.
• Product Management.
• Test Case Management.
• Project Management.
• Bug Tracking.
• DevOps.
• Software Development.
• Knowledge Base Management.
• Change Management.
• Requirement Management.
• Project Tracking and Planning.

Features Of JIRA:

Now, that we know what is JIRA, let’s learn some of the features of this project management software.

• Customizable Workflows.
• Agile Boards.
• Advanced Search and Filters.
• Issue and Bug Tracking.
• Audit Logs.
• Kanban and Scrum Boards.
• Roadmaps and Releases.
• Mobile Apps.

Advantages Of JIRA: 

Till now we have read about what is JIRA in detail. Let’s scroll down to know some of its advantages:

• Bug tracking or issue tracking.
• Deadlines can be met easily.
• Collaboration and communication.
• Extensibility with Add-Ons.
• Advanced reporting and metrics.
• Integration Ecosystem.
• Customization and Flexibility.
• Faster feedback.
• Agile Project Management.

Disadvantages Of JIRA:

Although JIRA offers several benefits, it has a few drawbacks too. Here are some of the disadvantages of this project management software JIRA:

• High Cost.
• User Interface Complexity.
• Steep Learning Curve.
• Customization Challenges.
• Limited Reporting and Analytics.
• Integration Complexity.
• Performance Issues.

Future Scope/Benefits Of JIRA:

JIRA, being a popular project management and issue-tracking tool has a promising future with several potential areas of growth and development. Here are some of its future scopes:

• Expanded Integration Capabilities.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting.
• AI and Automation.
• Enhanced Agile Support.
• Improved User Experience.
• Mobile and Cloud Optimization.
• Industry-Specific Templates and Solutions.

About Henry Harvin’s Project Management Course:

Henry Harvin is an educational Institute/Academy that ranks top amongst the other trusted educational Institutes. Join the Project Management Course by Henry Harvin and deepen your knowledge and understanding of what is JIRA.

Project Management Course by Henry Harvin provides the following:

• Learning period of 36 Hours.
• Fees- Rs. 14900.
• Proficient learning with best practices.
• PMP Examination Content.
• Quizzes at the end of the chapters.
• 100% Placement Support.
• Certification.
• Internship.
• Free Access to Portal.

Other courses offered by Henry Harvin:

• Scrum Master Course.
• Agile Project Management Course.
• Data Science Course.
• Java Programming Course.

Conclusion:

This project management tool offers a robust and customizable platform for project management and issue tracking which promotes transparency, collaboration, and efficient workflow management. Hence, while concluding my blog about what is JIRA, I would like to convey that it can be proven as a boon to organizations because of its extensive set of features, which makes it a valuable tool for a wide range of industries and teams. So, if you want to get into one of the most rewarding careers with lots of future benefits, go ahead and join the Project Management Courses by Henry Harvin and ace it.

Recommended Reads:

• Project Management Courses in Hyderabad.
• Top Project Management Interview Questions.
• Guide on Project Management.
• Best Project Management Courses in Kolkata.

FAQs:

Q1. Is JIRA suitable for non-technical teams?

Ans. Yes, it offers the JIRA core edition which is tailored for non-technical teams and provides project management features suitable for various business functions.

Q2. Can JIRA be integrated with other tools?

Ans. Yes, JIRA provides a wide range of integrations with popular development, collaboration, and productivity tools.

Q3. Which is the best Institute for Project Management Courses?

Ans. Henry Harvin, undoubtedly is the best Institute to learn Project Management. It offers many other courses and provides the best results. If you want to join a Project management course, join Henry Harvin to make the best out of it.

Q4. Is JIRA available as a cloud-based solution?

Ans. Yes, JIRA is available as a cloud-based solution, known as JIRA Cloud.

Q5. What is JIRA?

Ans. JIRA is a project management software that helps teams track, plan, and manage work efficiently.

Download ebook