Item: Jira Align
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Jira is currently being used as a project management tool within our organization. It began its use at the corporate level and an attempt was made to spread this across many other departments. It was an attempt to align different departments under one reporting tool, making it easier for everyone to be on the same page.

Pros and Cons

Jira is great for detailing all tasks that pertain to a particular project because it allows you to drill down and add as many specific tasks under each project and milestone as you need.
Jira is great for assigning tasks and holding the resources accountable as you are able to attach or assign a resource to each particular task and also have the resource receive notifications to these tasks as well as a link that allows them to connect directly to it.

Jira is very tech project oriented. It makes sense to add detailed tasks for tech projects, such as ordering hardware, installing hardware, configuring hardware, etc. It is tougher to use for more operation oriented projects. For example, deploying technology across thousands of employees can happen over many months and be hard to break down in to weekly tasks, therefore, it is almost more work to fit something like this in to a Jira format.
Jira is tough to implement across different departments. Tech teams tend to adjust/learn how to use Jira very quickly but giving access to others that may need to simply check their tasks or mark them completed can still take quite a bit of training to ensure they know what they are looking for.

Return on Investment

It has positively impacted our tech teams, allowing them to better organize the tasks and items they are working on and has greatly improved their ability to communicate & review these tasks with other teams.
I believe it negatively impacted other departments as lengthy training was required by many associates to attempt using the tool, only to find out it didn't meet our needs, therefore much time was wasted.

Alternatives Considered

Smartsheet

We actually had Smartsheet evaluated after we began use of Jira and determined that even though Jira serves a better purpose for our tech teams, all other teams found it much better to use Smartsheet as it continues with the project and Excel type feel that most are used to. When sending out updates to stakeholders, Jira was much too confusing.

Support Rating

We had amazing support for this tool as it was one of our own associates. He dove in, learned everything he needed to and then proceeded to teach us. To be fair, we never had to reach out to Jira support specifically. Honestly, if there was more training and support, we may have found better ways to use the tool.

Key Insights

Do you think Jira Align delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Jira Align's feature set?

Did Jira Align live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Jira Align go as expected?

Would you buy Jira Align again?

Other Software Used

Smartsheet, Microsoft Teams, VMware Horizon (formerly VMware View)

Likelihood to Recommend

I believe Jira is very well suited for tech projects as it allows teams to get very granular with their tasks, resources and sprints. I don't believe Jira is well suited for operational projects or high level reporting as it tends to be confusing for non tech teams to use.

Jira Align Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Quick Initial Response	None

Jira may just be the perfect tool for you...

Overall Satisfaction with Atlassian Jira Align (formerly AgileCraft)