Jira Review: Best Project Management Tool for Dev Teams

Summary: This detailed Jira review covers its features, pros, cons, and pricing. This blog explores how Jira work management supports agile methodology handles, third-party integrations, and other advanced features.

Jira has over 15,000+ reviews on popular sites like G2 and Capterra and an impressive 4.4-star rating on Capterra. Insane, right? 

With so many users relying on Jira, it’s clear that this tool has significantly improved the way teams collaborate and manage projects.

Whether you’re a software development team or managing complex workflows, Jira’s extensive features are designed to enhance productivity and streamline project tracking. But what makes it stand out among other tools? What are the exclusive features of this tool? 

Let’s dive into this comprehensive review to find out.

Rating Overview for Jira, and monday.com

Ratings	Jira	monday.com
Overall Experience	4.4 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
Ease of Use	4.1 out of 5	4.5 out of 5
Project Planning	4.5 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
Access Control	4.4 out of 5	4.6 out of 5
Customer Service	4.2 out of 5	4.5 out of 5
		Try monday.com TODAY

Overview of Jira Software

Jira is a powerful project management tool that supports agile teams in planning, tracking, and releasing software projects. Developed initially as a bug-tracking tool, Jira has evolved into a complete project management software that caters to various types of projects, particularly those in software development.

Jira stands out as a leading tool for managing software development projects, offering simplicity and depth. Its ability to streamline complex processes and extensive customization options make it a preferred choice among agile teams worldwide.

Key Features of Jira

1. Issue Management & Bug Tracking

Jira’s issue management system allows teams to track every task, bug, and project element from start to finish. By breaking down large projects into smaller tasks and stories, Jira ensures efficient workflow management, making prioritizing and completing tasks easier.

Initially designed for bug tracking, Jira excels in helping teams record, track, and fix bugs quickly. With a dedicated bug-tracking template, all issues can be viewed on a single board, enabling seamless prioritization and resolution. This visibility ensures that critical bugs are addressed promptly, enhancing overall project quality.

2. Agile Development

Jira is designed with Agile development in mind, offering built-in Scrum, Kanban, and bug-tracking boards to cater to different project needs. Whether you’re managing software development or other projects like Go To Market, Recruitment, or Budgeting, Jira’s flexible boards allow teams to choose the best methodology—Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid like Scrumban.

When starting a project, Jira prompts you to select either a Scrum or Kanban board, automatically setting up the framework for your chosen methodology. This makes it easy to manage sprints, track issues, and log progress using various views like user stories and story points.

Agile is at the core of Jira’s functionality, ensuring smooth integration and utilization of all its features to optimize project workflows.

3. Roadmaps

Jira’s Roadmaps offer a high-level visual summary of a project’s goals, timelines, and priorities, making it easy for stakeholders to understand the overall progress at a glance. This feature helps managers prioritize critical tasks, ensuring the most valuable work is delivered first.

Roadmaps also facilitate alignment around project objectives, promoting transparent communication and accountability across teams. With Jira, you can create detailed timelines, set direction guidelines, and segment your development lifecycle.

Additionally, Roadmaps can be exported to formats like PDF or CSV for easy sharing, making them an essential tool for planning and tracking progress across multiple sprints.

4. Reporting

Jira offers a suite of over 15 reports that provide real-time insights into your team’s performance, from planning to final delivery. Reports like sprint reports, burndown charts, control charts, and time tracking reports allow project managers to monitor progress, identify bottlenecks, and re-prioritize tasks as needed.

These data-driven, visually rich reports help manage projects more effectively and can be shared with clients. Jira’s customizable dashboards also offer a quick overview of key project metrics, making tracking performance easier for project managers.

5. Integrations and Add-ons

Jira offers extensive integration capabilities, connecting with over 3,000 tools, apps, and platforms to enhance its usability and streamline workflows. Whether you’re using project management, CRM, or development tools, Jira’s integrations help unify your systems for seamless data sharing and communication.

Additionally, Jira’s flexibility is amplified by over 800 add-ons in the Atlassian Marketplace. These plugins, such as ScriptRunner, Zephyr for Test Management, and Tempo Timesheets, allow you to customize workflows and extend Jira’s functionality to suit your business needs.

6. Mobile Access

Jira is accessible on mobile devices through the Jira Cloud app, providing users flexibility. While the app offers a streamlined experience for creating tasks, leaving comments, attaching files, and reviewing boards, it retains the drag-and-drop interface familiar from the web version.

The app presents data in a more straightforward format, which may require significant scrolling to view all information. Although managing complex projects is generally more comfortable on a desktop, the mobile app is a valuable tool for staying updated on issues and receiving notifications about updates.

7. Customization

One of Jira’s standout features is its customization capabilities. Every team has a unique way of working, and Jira allows extensive customization to match these needs.

Jira excels in customization, allowing teams to tailor the platform to their needs. You can create custom fields, workflows, and issue types to configure Jira to align with your project requirements.

8. Security

Jira prioritizes data security with features designed to protect sensitive information. Key security measures include customizable user roles, permissions, password policies, and two-factor authentication. All data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2+ and at rest with AES-256 encryption, ensuring industry-standard protection against unauthorized access.

Jira complies with significant standards and regulations such as GDPR, SOC 2 and 3, PCI/DSS, and ISO/IEC certifications. For enhanced security, Atlassian Access offers additional features like single sign-on (SSO), SCIM, and Active Directory sync, which are available with the Enterprise plan.

9. Time Tracking

Time tracking is crucial in agile development, enabling accurate estimates by comparing tasks with historical data.

Jira’s time-tracking feature uses a color-coded system to provide clear insights into issue management.

• Blue indicates the estimated time to resolve an issue
• Orange shows the remaining time
• Green represents the actual time spent.

This system helps project managers and agile teams monitor progress and manage deadlines effectively.

Additionally, Jira’s time-tracking function facilitates the generation of detailed reports, offering valuable insights into project time allocation.

10. Automation

Jira’s automation rules can streamline repetitive tasks, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. Whether auto-assigning issues or sending notifications based on specific triggers, Jira’s automation tools enhance productivity.

Moreover, teams can create workflows that reflect their process, from simple task tracking to complex multi-step processes. These workflows can be modified as the project evolves.

11. Customer Support

Jira provides different levels of customer support depending on the plan. The free plan includes access to Atlassian’s community support forum and online resources like a help center. The Standard plan offers email and chat support during local business hours, while the Premium plan provides 24/7 email and chat support.

For those on the Enterprise plan, Jira offers 24/7 phone, email, and chat support and dedicated account management. The Jira Service Desk add-on is also available for IT and customer service teams, offering features like ticketing, SLAs, and a Knowledge Base for comprehensive support management.

Why Jira is Best for Agile Teams

Agile teams thrive on flexibility and the ability to adapt to changes quickly. Jira is built with agile methodologies, making it an ideal tool for teams following Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid approach.

• Planning and Tracking: Jira’s planning features allow project managers to create detailed roadmaps, assign tasks, and set priorities. Agile boards make it easy to track progress and adapt to changes in real time.
• Issue Management: Managing software projects often involves dealing with bugs and issues. Jira’s issue-tracking system is one of the best in the industry, enabling teams to log, categorize, and resolve problems efficiently. 
• Collaboration: Software development is a collaborative effort. Jira facilitates team members’ communication, integrates with tools like Slack, and ensures everyone is on the same page.
• Task Management: Beyond issue tracking, Jira’s task management features help organize and prioritize work. Tasks can be broken down into smaller sub-tasks, assigned to team members, and monitored to completion.
• Scrum Support: Jira’s Scrum boards are designed to manage sprint planning, backlog grooming, and burndown charts, providing a clear view of progress and areas that need attention.
• Kanban Boards: For teams that prefer a continuous workflow, Jira’s Kanban boards offer a visual representation of tasks. They allow for easy tracking of work in progress and identification of blockages.
• Agile Reporting: Jira’s agile reporting tools, such as velocity charts, sprint reports, and cumulative flow diagrams, give teams the data they need to make informed decisions and improve processes.
• Custom Fields and Screens: Jira allows custom fields to be added to capture specific data points, and custom screens ensure that team members see only the information relevant to their tasks.

Jira Pricing

Jira offers various pricing plans to cater to teams of different sizes and needs. The free Plan is ideal for small teams and offers essential features but is limited to 10 users.

Standard Plan: Priced at $7.16 per user/month, this plan offers more features, including advanced permissions and audit logs, making it suitable for growing teams.

Premium Plan: At $12.48 per user/month, the Premium plan includes advanced roadmaps, 24/7 support, and increased storage, making it ideal for larger teams or those with complex project management needs.

Enterprise Plan: Designed for large organizations, the Enterprise Plan offers custom pricing and includes features like unlimited storage, enterprise-grade security, and priority support.

Pros of Jira

Jira software is designed to handle the complexities of software development projects. It offers tools supporting every development lifecycle stage, from planning to deployment. Here are some of the benefits of Jira work management:

• User-Friendly Interface: Jira’s intuitive interface is easy to navigate, making it accessible for all skill levels. Its extensive documentation and tutorials further support a smooth learning curve.
• Efficient Issue Tracking: Originally designed for bug tracking, Jira remains highly effective for managing and resolving issues. Its extensive reporting tools provide valuable insights into issue resolution efficiency.
• Highly Scalable: Jira’s flexibility allows it to scale with your project, from small personal tasks to large enterprise projects, adapting to evolving needs.
• Reliable Support: Atlassian provides robust customer support, complemented by a large community of users who offer additional assistance and resources.
• Easy to Locate, Track, and Record Bugs: Jira simplifies bug management by allowing users to log, assign, and track bugs throughout their lifecycle. This ensures quick resolution and effective communication about issues.
• Visually Attractive Kanban Boards: Kanban boards visually represent workflows, allowing teams to see tasks at different stages and identify process inefficiencies. They enable real-time updates and better workflow management.

Cons of Jira

Now, let’s explore some of the common challenges Jira users face. Many users find the platform’s complexity overwhelming, particularly when configuring advanced features and navigating its extensive customization options.

• Steep Learning Curve: Jira’s extensive features can be overwhelming for new users, requiring time to learn and adapt.
• Complex Setup: Setting up Jira to fit your team’s workflow can be time-consuming, especially for teams with unique processes.
• Cost: While Jira offers a free tier, larger teams may find the paid plans expensive, especially when adding multiple integrations and add-ons.

Alternatives to Jira

While Jira is a leading project management tool, it’s not the only option available. Other project management tools might better suit certain teams depending on their specific needs.

monday.com: With its visual project tracking and intuitive interface, monday.com is a great choice for teams that need a balance between simplicity and functionality.

Trello: Ideal for smaller teams or simpler projects, Trello offers a more straightforward approach to task management with its card-based system.

Asana: Known for its user-friendly interface, Asana is a versatile project management tool suitable for teams of all sizes, offering robust task and project management features.

ClickUp: ClickUp is a highly customizable project management tool that offers a wide range of features, including time tracking, goal setting, and document management, making it a strong competitor to Jira.

Key Takeaways from Our Jira Review

Jira project management software stands out as a powerful tool for managing complex projects, particularly in the software development field. With its strong support for agile methodologies, strong issue tracking, and extensive customization options, Jira is an excellent choice for teams handling intricate workflows. 

However, its advanced features and learning curve may not suit every team, especially those with simpler project management needs. Before fully committing, take advantage of Jira’s free plan to explore its features and determine if it aligns with your team’s requirements. 

If you’re still uncertain, consulting with experts like TaskRhino can provide tailored advice to help you select the best project management tool for your business.