My introduction to Atlassian products was by chance. The company I was working for was using an ancient bug tracking application. By ancient, I mean software that would only load in a browser version which was no longer available. In fact, the manufacturer had stopped supporting it many years prior. The software was becoming increasingly unstable and a decision was made to switch to JIRA. We were so excited to ditch the old software that we set up an official funeral for it at the office. This was around the Halloween holiday, so we hung pictures of tombstones on the wall along with screenshots of our most “ghastly” bugs. A team member wrote an obituary for the old application. We covered the scene with spider webs and skeletons. It was a fun way to celebrate that we were changing to JIRA and also say “good riddance” to our old system.
I was immediately amazed by what JIRA offered us. We were able to track all our work, not just our bugs. The flexibility to work differently between projects and between issue types was something I hadn’t seen before. The ease of customization had me dreaming of all the ways we could improve our processes. I found myself immersed in the user documentation, reviewing the internal materials produced for the transition, and even helping others use this new application. I moved from being a typical end user, to an application administrator, strategist, and trainer. JIRA administration became an obsession and was easily the best part of my workday.
Today, I use JIRA and other Atlassian tools at my primary job, as a volunteer with the Atlassian User Group program, to run my side business, and even at home. At home, JIRA tracks “bucket list” items, personal goals, and my asset list, for insurance purposes. I use Confluence to collaborate with family members, plan trips, track “to do” items, and capture research details for major purchases. The JIRA Strategy Admin Workbook was written in Confluence and the book writing progress was tracked in JIRA. These tools have become a vital part of my personal and professional life. It’s safe to say I’m a huge Atlassian fan.
Rachel Wright is available for speaking engagements, interviews, and appearances. She is also happy to speak to groups via telephone or web conference.
Book Information
Title: JIRA Strategy Admin Workbook Sub title: Templates for the application administrator to set up, clean up, and maintain JIRA Author: Rachel Wright Publisher: Industry Templates, LLC Date of Publication: November 30, 2016 Retail Price: $59.99 USD (Print Version) ISBN-13: 978-1539090229 ISBN-10: 1539090221 Pages: 295
Download the worksheets, templates & companion materials for this book from the Strategy for Jira store at: jirastrategy.com/store.
Listen to the 3 minute introduction read by the author.
There were once three companies. The first had a brand new JIRA instance that was smartly set up and implemented. Everything was carefully planned and executed. The projects, issue types, workflows, and other settings were standardized and built for needs of the users. All the configurations and processes were documented and the users were well-trained. The transition from an old issue tracking tool was simple and all the users were happy. The application was pruned and maintained like a beautiful garden. Its administrators were carefully selected process leaders who routinely cared for and meticulously shaped the garden’s growth.
The second company had the complete opposite set up. Their JIRA instance was old and it had not matured and changed in tandem with the organization. There were no standards, no recognizable patterns, and no documentation. There was a free-for-all mentality that resulted in an overgrown swamp of data. Anyone that desired a project customization was instantly made an application administrator and made any change they wanted. Changes were made without a strategy and without regard for their impact on other projects or the application as a whole. The swamp became more and more unmanageable each day.
The third company wanted JIRA to look and act like all their other internal applications. They spent many months making visual and functional customizations. Eventually, so much had changed that they couldn’t upgrade without wiping out all the custom elements. Their users weren’t able to take advantage of all the new features and functions available in newer versions. One by one their add-ons became unsupported and their application reached the dreaded “end of life” support status.
The recommendations in this book are a result of working in these environments and digging them of the swamp. Included are best practices, dos and don’ts, and recommendations you can adapt to fit your company.
Would you rather have an organized, tidy, and trimmed garden or a foggy, contaminated, overgrown swamp?
The Jira Strategy Admin Workbook will save you time, money and frustration. This book is different – it’s not documentation. It’s recommendations from years of cleaning up horrible Jira configurations! It’s about what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, and why.
The workbook contains:
152 recommendations to help you set up, clean up, and maintain JIRA,
50 worksheets, plus additional templates, code snippets, and wording samples to help you establish and streamline vital processes,
33 real examples of problems to avoid,
best practices and dos and don’ts for each administrative area,
the top 10 mistakes I made as an administrator, and
Listen to the 3 minute introduction read by the author.
Sections
The book is organized into six main chapters. “Part 1: Setting the Foundation” and “Part 2: Project Configuration” address set up for a new application and concepts to enhance an existing application. “Part 3: Fix and Clean Jira Up” is for auditing and improving an existing application. “Part 4: Maintenance” is about upgrading and maintaining the application once it’s set up well. “Part 5: Customization” tackles add-ons, plugins, and ways to extend the application. Finally, “Part 6: Bonuses” contains additional content that didn’t fit anywhere else.
Table of Contents
How I Fell in Love with Jira
Introduction: A Tale of Three Companies Who This Book Is For What You’ll Need Book Structure – Terminology – Conventions Worksheets, Templates & Companion Materials Errata Comments, Feedback, and Questions
Part 1: Setting the Foundation Establish an Advisory Board – Ideal Board Makeup – Role of the Board – Establish Standards – Handle Sensitive Information – Support Metrics Sample Jira Support Project Set Up – Customer Satisfaction Survey – Sample Workflow: Jira Support Appoint Ambassadors User Access Strategies – User Types – Test Users – Define Admin Users – Project Leads – External Users – Character Users – Roles and Groups – User Management – Other Users – Single Sign On – Shared Access
Part 2: Project Configuration Name Your Schemes – Jira Terminology Projects – Strategy for Creating New Projects – Name Your Project – Project Categories – Share Project Schemes and Assets – Establish Scheme Defaults – Project Configuration Strategy – Configure Your Project Issue Types – Best Practices – Issue Type Schemes – Name Your Issue Types and Schemes Statuses – Best Practices – Status Categories Resolutions – What is a Resolution? – Bulk Update Resolutions Priorities – Best Practices Workflows – Name Your Workflow – Create a Workflow – Custom Workflows – Phased Approach – Custom Workflow Process – Workflow Templates – Workflow Concepts – Workflow Behaviors – Workflow Schemes – Workflow Schemes to Workflows Relationship Screens – Best Practices – Can’t see a field? – Screen Schemes – Issue Type Screen Schemes – Best Practices – Standard Web Form Conventions Custom Fields – Best Practices – Required Fields – Field Configurations – Standard and Important Fields – Field Configuration Schemes – Field Configurations to Field Configuration Schemes Relationship – Proper Field Types – Special Features Versions – Best Practices – Alternate Uses for Versions – Version Permissions Components – Examples – Best Practices Permissions – Best Practices – Permission Scheme Worksheets Issue Security – Best Practices – Issue Security Worksheets Notifications – Best Practices – Standard and Custom Notifications – Bulk Change Notifications Standard Capabilities
Part 3: Fix and Clean Jira Up Audit – Areas to Tackle – Unused Elements – Duplicate Elements – Practical Audit Example – Inactive Projects – Clean-Up Check-up – Old Email Handlers Archive – Option 1: Prevent New Issues – Option 2: Make the Project Read Only – Option 3: Hide the Project – Option 4: “Archive” the Project – Option 5: Export the Project – Archive Clean-Up & Notification Merge Applications or Start Over – Application Comparison – Plugin Tracking – Comparison Recommendations – Start Over – Expert Assistance
Part 4: Maintenance User Communication – Announcement Banners Application Tracking and Statistics Re-index – Re-index Triggers – Types of Re-indexes Scheduled Maintenance – Support and Emergency Escalation Upgrade – High Level Upgrade Plan – Detailed Upgrade Plan – Standard Regression Testing – Upgrade Wording – Emergency Rollback – REST API and Database Users – New Feature List Automated Testing Monitoring Incident Log Year-End Clean-Up Year End Analysis
Part 5: Customization Plugins and Add-ons – Best Practices – Vet Plugins and Add-ons – Plugin Installations – Noteworthy Add-ons Extend Jira – Get Data into Jira – Create Custom Displays – Sync Data with Jira Hacks Other Uses for Jira – Jira as a CRM – Asset Tracking – Moving Labels – Bucket Lists – Personal Goals – Other Ideas
Part 6: Bonuses Training Users – End User Training – Admin Training Resources – Get Certified Bulk Import Database Queries – Configuration Elements – Projects and Issues – Users and Groups – Filters and Dashboards – Workflows – Add-ons – Database Specific – Query Resources
Resources Documentation Support Atlassian User Groups Summit Annual User Conference – Summit Justification – Summit Tips Other Books Atlassian Experts Consulting
Conclusion
Appendix Recommendations Index Materials Index Offernull
Included Materials
Download the worksheets, templates, and companion materials using the coupon code in your book’s “Worksheets, Templates & Companion Materials” section. The following are downloadable after your book purchase:
Atlassian Summit Notes
Determine Jira Permissions
Jira Add User Instruction Based on Issue ID
Jira Annual Report
Jira Application Administrator Responsibilities
Jira Application Comparison
Jira Automated Testing
Jira Bulk Import
Jira Change Select List Formatting
Jira Clean Instance
Jira Conditional Announcement Banner
Jira Custom Workflow Documentation
Jira Database Queries
Jira Detailed Upgrade Plan
Jira Genie and Jira Gerbil Character Users
Jira HTML Links
Jira Incident Log
Jira Issue Creation via Email Instructions
Jira Issue Security Worksheets
Jira Menu and Transition Buttons Graphic
Jira Monitoring
Jira New Custom Field Requests
Jira New Project Configuration Checklist
Jira New Project Request
Jira New User Communication and Checklist
Jira New User Request
Jira Notification Scheme
Jira Permission Scheme Worksheets
Jira Plugin and Add-on Vetting Procedure
Jira Plugin Tracking
Jira Project Status
Jira Project Wording
Jira Recommendations and Tips
Jira REST API and Database Users
Jira Rollback Plan
Jira Scheduled Maintenance
Jira Scheme Wording
Jira Security Policy Considerations
Jira Standard Capabilities
Jira Standard Regression Testing
Jira Status Update Email Notification Instructions
Jira Support and Emergency Escalation
Jira System Stats
Jira Upgrade Wording
Jira Use and Future Predictions
Jira Users Wording
Jira Workflow XML
New Jira Features
Sample Jira Support Project Set Up
Top Jira Support Measurements
Download the files individually or a few at a time as you need them. You can also download them all at once, in one .zip file.
