Where do you keep project documentation in Jira Cloud?

[Ognyan]

Hello there, 

I am wondering where do other people keep documentation related to a project inside Jira?

We are usually having a task titled documentation in the backlog but I don`t think this is really smart and it also breaks the statistics. 

The problem is that we don`t want separate tools for simple documentation related to the technical part of the project.

I will be happy to have your feedback and ideas.

Thanks! 

Ognyan

[Tarun Sapra]

Hello @Ognyan 

Jira for project tracking and project management, and it's not a great tool for content/document management.

That why, people use Confluence for content/document management, both Jira and confluence are so nicely integrated hence you can have the jira ticket linked to the confluence page having the required content and you can attach files as well to the confluence pages easily and mention jira issues within confluence pages as well.

There might be some hacks about using Jira for managing documentation but Jira is not meant for this purpose.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Ognyan : Definitely advisable not to have a Task just for documentation. As Tarun mentioned, use Confluence.

We are using confluence for Project specific documentation and SharePoint for the big stuff (linked to Jira/Confluence)

For Technical Design per Task/User Story, the Tech Leads want any diagrams or documentation attached to the Task/User Story in question so that they can review swiftly and conveniently. 
Admin maintains the archiving of all Tech Design & Documentation per project on Confluence (no double work or uploading, just links)

[Ognyan]

Thank you guys for the recommendation. We cannot justify the business value that confluence will bring us.

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

@Ognyan : how does your company store documents at the moment ? Office365? SharePoint?

[Ognyan]

Locally mostly and Google Drive. 

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

Hmm... that's a tricky one.

I would suggest attaching documents to each User Story / task that the doc relates to and keep everything else more general on the Google Drive (especially if it needs sharing).

No one from your company interested in a business case for Confluence? It's not just for document storage, but extremely useful / powerful for project management. Plans, release notes, status monitoring, etc.

[Ognyan]

Thank you, Andy. 

I will definitely check the features that confluence provides.

If you can provide some business cases and stories where Confluence brought value I will be happy to take a look :) 

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

You're most welcome.

Start with this article! It's a gold mine as long as you are patient and take your time.
https://confluence.atlassian.com/confeval/confluence-evaluator-resources/confluence-business-case

Are you participating in your local Atlassian User Group.... ?
https://aug.atlassian.com/
If you can get to Amsterdam or Rotterdam you can join use to dive into real-life user stories directly with the users themselves! :)

[Tarun Sapra]

@Ognyan 

I gave a talk last year about how we can leverage both confluence and Jira for better management of our projects and there are some interesting real-life use-cases which I have shared in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5NojGjJCE

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

Epic video Tarun! You should post it as a seperate answer for an Upvote! 
See you this Thursday at AUG AMS? :)

[Tarun Sapra]

Thanks Andy! posted it as an separate answer :)

See you at the Ams AUG!

[Andy - PTC Redundant]

...and upvoted my man! 
That's great. See you soon.

[Tarun Sapra]

I gave a talk last year about how we can leverage both confluence and Jira for better management of our projects and there are some interesting real-life use-cases which I have shared in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5NojGjJCE

[Marianne Miller]

If you can't swing Confluence, which is certainly the quickest and easiest way to create and reference documentation for Jira issues, then I'd recommend a Google Team Drive.  That way, the working, collaborative document can be shared in the issue, and edit are automatically versioned and tracked, so you're always working with the latest update without trying to replace static versions of files.

With a Google Team Drive, all members of the team have access to stored files and you don't have to remember or manage sharing permissions.

Even in our current configuration with Confluence, we still use Team Drive for active, working files, and Confluence for historical solutions.

We've found that this works very well for our team.  I would certainly recommend it if you're looking for a scalable solution for your Jira projects.

Good Luck!