Using JIRA efficiently
Let's face it, there is only one issue tracker worth using, and that's JIRA. Believe me, I've used quite a few (Mantis, Savannah, Trac, Bugzilla, FogBugz, ...) and none of the other have the same power and user friendliness like JIRA.
JIRA also has a ton of plugins, a lot of which are free. And even if they aren't, the investment usually repays itself within months. The ROI is incredible. Today, I'll shed some light on the plugins I usually install on any JIRA I get to do administration on.
Tempo
JIRA's worklog system is great. However, once you start to use Tempo, you'll never use the standard 'Log work' again. Tempo is a complete time tracking system, including holiday tracking, non-issue related time tracking, detailed reporting and integration with ERP and CRM systems (although I haven't used that functionality yet). You do need to do some configuration, but once you set it up, it's invaluable. Using Tempo promotes the idea that all work done on a project should be issue related, an idea I support wholeheartedly.
Price: free when using the Jira Starter license ($10 donation is appreciated), $300 for 25 users to $2000 for unlimited users. So if you can invoice 1/2 hour per person a month more because of accurate time tracking and you're invoicing 25 people at $50/h, you have a ROI of more than 200% in just one month.
Greenhopper
An official Atlassian plugin. If you're using Scrum or any other Agile system and you're using JIRA, you really need this plugin. It's invaluable when doing planning and following up sprints. Even if you're not going agile, this plugin can really help keeping the people in the project informed.
Price: $10 for 10 users (Starter license), $600 for 25 users to $4000 for unlimited users. Usually repays itself through increased team productivity and follow-up in a couple of months.
FishEye plugin
As far as online source control browser tools go, FishEye is a good as it gets. Atlassian provides great integration (off course, FishEye is one of their products). Can be replaced with the specific source control integration plugins, but if you can afford FishEye, use it.
Price: free (FishEye not included)
JIRA Labels
Enabled users to easily add metadata tags to issues, facilitating searches.
Price: free
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June 7th, 2010 - 16:03
> Let’s face it, there is only one issue tracker worth using, and that’s JIRA. Believe me, I’ve used quite a few (Mantis, Savannah, Trac, Bugzilla, FogBugz, …) and none of the other have the same power and user friendliness like JIRA.
Try JetBrains Issue & Bug Tracker – YouTrack http://jetbrains.com/youtrack
It’s young, but fast and powerful.
June 7th, 2010 - 20:29
I did take a look at it, but it really didn’t impress me. Don’t get me wrong, it does look nice, but frankly, it’s no competition for JIRA. That’s something I never got from you guys at Jetbrains: why try and reinvent the wheel? I get it that you want a piece of the market, but face it, you’re years behind Atlassian. Focus your energy on the products in which you dominate the market, i.e. IntelliJ and Resharper, and just incinerate the competition. IntelliJ is one of the tools in my toolbox I’ll never give up!