monday reviews is our latest blog series where we provide the facts about different project management tools—no BS and no hyperbole needed. Keep scrolling for our analysis and to learn more about all the project management tools out there. Enjoy! 😊
If you’re new to the world of project management tools, you may be hearing about Jira, and asking yourself the very legitimate question, ‘What is Jira?’ You probably want the lowdown on what it is and how you might be able to use it in your business, right?
We get it.
With so many project management platforms out there, it can be hard to tell the difference between them all and decide which one will improve your business’ processes and task management.
Don’t panic though! You’re in the right place—we at monday.com have saved you countless hours of internet browsing to provide you with a solid, well-balanced answer.
In this article, we’ll provide you with a rundown of what Jira is, how it works, how much it costs, and a quick look at agile project management in general.
After reading, you’ll have all the information you need to decide if Jira—or an alternative project management platform like monday.com—is best for your business.
Let’s dive right in.
What is Jira?
Jira is a project management platform that displays tasks on a central dashboard. Jira is also a tool for tracking bugs and other issues related to mobile and web apps, making it ideal for developers.
Jira is known for being a tool closely tied with agile project management, a method of work management popular with software development teams.
What is Jira used for?
As a project management platform, Jira is used to help teams manage their workflow. When it comes to the types of projects and tasks Jira is used for, it depends on which “Jira” we’re talking about.
There are three key different tools that fall under the Jira umbrella.
- Jira Software
Jira Software is specifically built for software teams to plan, track, and release software. Designed with agile methodology in mind, the platform helps businesses plan work sprints and distribute tasks evenly across the team. Scrum and kanban boards give teams more visibility of workload and prioritize current work tasks.
- Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management helps development and operations teams collaborate. You can set up a service desk and provide service and assistance for your business’s individual needs. For instance, you could set up the platform to provide service for IT support, HR, questions, or security reviews.
- Jira Core
Jira Core is the platform’s project management software. Create a workflow to identify each process and allow team members to track tasks. The layout enables users to visualize their task’s process and drag and drop tasks from “to-do” to “done.”
How much does Jira cost?
Jira has four pricing tiers available:
- Free – For those who want to test the platform before diving in and only need it for up to 10 users, you can use the platform for free.
- Standard, for $7 per user per month – File storage of 250 GB and access for up to 10,000 users.
- Premium, for $14 per user per month – Standard features plus unlimited storage and 24/7 support.
- Enterprise, for a bespoke pricing plan – Prices will depend on usage and number of users.
*All of these prices are an average price per user when billed monthly.
How does Jira work?
As we know, Jira is composed of three different tools that help teams manage projects from start to finish.
Users can create their own workflow or use a pre-designed template and move tasks along from the initial planning phase until the completed phase. If your team likes to use agile methodology for its projects, you can also incorporate an agile reporting stage.
If you were going to use a Jira board for planning your current workload, here’s what you’d need to do:
- Create a Jira board for your team’s workflow – The board is where you’ll build your current workflow which could include sections for your team to do list, what’s in progress, and what’s already been done.
- Customize each section – Identify all the tasks that are currently on your to do list, in progress, or that are completed and slot them into each section. You can assign tasks to different team members, add comments, include details like deadlines, and highlight them according to current priorities.
- Regularly check the board – As team members work on each task, regularly look at the board to see how tasks are moving along the workflow. This enables you to see if your team is hitting deadlines and producing the required work.
What is agile project management anyway?
Agile project management is simply a way of managing tasks (structured into sprints) handled by multiple team members.
Stemming from software development task management, it’s now widespread and used in multiple industries.
Here’s what an agile project management board looks like in monday.com’s project management platform (just one of 8 different view options we offer):
What is agile project management best for?
Despite its adoption at many businesses, agile is still known best for its use in software development teams. And there’s a reason for that….
- Adapt to change more efficiently: Short work cycles make it easy for dev teams to refine, address (and track) bugs, and reprioritize the final product.
- Faster turnaround times: Fixed work sprints mean features are delivered quickly and on time, providing the opportunity to test beta products.
- Receive immediate feedback: There are multiple opportunities for stakeholder and team collaboration so feedback can be quickly acted upon.
Meet monday.com, your new Jira alternative
Let’s get down to it and answer the million-dollar question…
Which is best for your business, Jira or monday.com?
The answer depends on your business’s unique set of needs and goals.
Although Jira’s workflow templates and boards can work for some teams, we at monday.com know that when it comes to project management, it’s personal to every business.
For that reason, we offer a full set of pre-designed templates suitable for multiple industries and powerful features for customizing your own, so that your team can find, or build out, the best project management solution for your business.
If you’re already a project management pro, you can create your template from scratch and tailor it to your project’s specific needs.
If your developers are in love with agile, but your marketing team loves calendars and your sales team is all about spreadsheets, you can each work in exactly the way you want.
Or, if your devs are using and stubborn about moving from Jira, you can always integrate it with monday.com and keep everyone happy.
monday.com offers full flexibility, and not only for developers
With so many project management platforms out there it can be hard to know what’s best suited to your business.
Whether you want to enhance your business’s existing project management processes or begin to add structure to your team’s workload, a project management platform can be a great addition.
Here’s a look at what our visual platform offers:
- Easy-to-use, visual interface that lets any team member jump in and get started
- Hundreds of ready-made templates based on how real teams use monday.com
- 8 different visual workflows
- Create, customize, and share forms with your team members and clients
- 40+ high-quality integrations — both for developers and non-developers alike
- Custom workflow automation to automate the mundane tasks, notifications, and even emails (no coding needed)
- Drag and drop files, use advanced search capabilities, upload files, and give feedback all in the same place
Don’t just take our word for it: monday.com has a rating of 4.6 /5 on G2 from more than 1,200 users. In fact, more than 7,000 people ranked monday.com 4.6/5 or above on review sites, including G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, TrustRadius, and GetApp.
If you’re still wondering what you can do to improve your team’s project management and whether there’s a suitable Jira alternative or integration out there, check out our full range of templates to find your ideal match. Ultimately your team needs to feel good about their project management processes to produce their best work.
Try monday.com for free today, the first 2 weeks are on us!
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