For today’s blog I will be reviewing the software Jira for its capabilities and use as a Project Management Software. Jira is software that I am quite familiar with due to the fact that I have used it in a real workplace setting. In the past I have had an internship with Lowes Hardware. During that summer we used Jira as a planning and keeping track tool when working on a sprint and used it heavily to stay on pace. Working on an Android Development Team it became very helpful when working on new features.
Jira has many features that allow it to follow the needs and application use of an Agile approach in a software creation space. First and foremost, the biggest feature it boasts is the Kanban board. The kanban board allows you to specify how many steps a new feature must go through in order to be fully completed in the end. When the kanban board is set up you are able to put and create different stories to the board to work through. For example, one Kanban board can be set up with the different steps: 1. To-Dos, 2. In Progress, 3. Code Review, 4. Done. So if a company was using it they would have a sprint planning meeting or at different times based on need to write in specific things they need to-do in the to-do section of the board. After that developers will pick up different stories that they can work on during the time. When they start working on something they will move their story to the section In Progress. Also, during a sprint planning meeting instead of making it a free for all and possibly have some stories that no one went to you can choose to assign stories to certain people. So at the end of a sprint you can see what people managed to do and who needs more help completing things for the next sprint. The rest of the board can help people see when someone needs review and who is done with what. When a developer manages to finish a story you are able to see the different things completed in the backlog of the project so everyone knows what has been completed in the past and if you have any questions about a feature you know who to contact. Looking at planning ahead features, Jira also supports a roadmap feature that allows Project Software Managers to be able to get ahead of the game and let developers know what's coming up. This tool can be really useful during times that require everything to be put on the table at once, for example a project with an end goal and specific time frame. One really amazing feature that comes with Jira is being able to work directly with git. Jira supports tools that allow you to review a commit and push to different stories allowing different people to see the developmental process. The best thing is when you find some of your later commits are creating issues you can look back to when things weren't going wrong and possibly fix some current issues. With each story, the same way you can assign different stories to people, you can also assign mentors/reviews to a story to help with the code review process. Allowing your code to be close to working and knowing that what you are adding to the base software will not possibly create more severe bugs or break the app. During this process you are able to comment on different commits and specifically point out different spots where there are problems with your code. So when the original developer needs to go back they understand what exactly needs to be fixed. Let's say that the developer forgot to fix something, that awesome part is that Jira will keep the commented code from before and still suggest fixing it, then reviewers do not need to keep commenting to fix something that was already said before. The commenting feature also allows the developer to comment back allowing the reviewer to know they were heard and possibly to maybe discuss something the developers disagree on. Jira will also make it hard for something to be committed to the final software because the build will be checked if it works and has all the correct syntax and you can specify how many reviewers are needed before a story is implemented into the final project.
I believe Jira allows for the Agile process to be able to openly flow through a development process and is very flexible to any company's needs. Allowing a company's software to have the workflow they need from 2 steps to maybe even 10 steps if it's that important. Having a board where everyone can see the development process for different features in one place allows transparency and allows everyone to see where some things are falling behind and need more people to work on somethings. It allows the agile process to go smoothly, people are able to see what needs to be directly worked on for future projects. Also, having a feature like the roadmaps allows people to see what needs to be done to stay on track. When it comes to the individual developer too, mentors and reviews are assigned to a project so people know what they are working on and who to go to when something is not going as planned and maybe taking longer. It also helps a developer not feel like they are on their own. When features are complete developers can look in the back-logs to see who worked on what and what was accomplished in previous sprints. It also helps to see what a team is capable of in a certain amount of time and what it takes to complete future tasks. Code review is also a very powerful tool that is a great safety precaution between the testing phase and the whole software itself. My only complaint is that the amount of stories and trying to see what was currently created can be a confusing task at first and it always takes you a second to familiarize yourself with the current project at hand. Overall, Jira is an amazing tool that works amazingly in the workplace.
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