Jira's ever-evolving-UI (2025 Edition)

[#1]

In case you hadn't heard, Atlassian is pushing a new UI to Jira over the coming months.

And the changes (scroll to the end for some side-by-side comparisons) may be a bit of a surprise for your users.

I've never spent as much time thinking about Jira UI before @Alex Ortiz, @Rodney Nissen _ServiceRocket_ _TJL_ and @Robert Wen_Cprime_ roped me into a fun chat with @Sarah Wright and @Matt Reiner _K15t_ about it this past Thursday.

And now I can't stop thinking about it. This comment from "Administrator" got me digging:

This reminds me of what happened in 2018 when Atlassian changed the ‘top’ navigation bar to a ‘side’ navigation bar. The experience was so bad that *after* they rolled it out, they ran focus groups where 95% of users said they preferred the ‘top’ to the ‘side’. Then in 2020 the ‘top’ was brought back as an ‘improvement’ (“we have heard your feedback”) and because it was a “better navigation system”.

So as I only adminned on-prem Jira Server instances up through 2019, I was spared from all of this UI "whiplash". Or rather spared from user outcry over it. So I went digging. Oh boy.

@Rachel Wright's excellent 2020 Evolution of Jira Design - Part 2 is a terrific starting point. It links to a 2017 blog post (thanks Internet Archive!) that precisely describes what Administrator was talking about.

On November 21, 2017, it was declared: "Your teams are getting better navigation in Jira Cloud"

Pre-2017/2018 Top Nav

2018 Side Nav

Oh look, this is when they introduced the Project Sidebar

But then sometime in October 2019, we were told: A better navigation for Jira Cloud is coming soon

2019-2020 back to Top Nav (Project Sidebar stays)

Notably this included the introduction of the Your work page

Back in March of 2024 Atlassian started testing the New navigation via a Chrome Extension(?!) Apparently the EAP and Open Betas were a smashing success (97% of testers opted to stay with new nav) and so this new new UI is slated to roll out in 2025.

(Source: Webinar: Unpacking the new Atlassian global navigation experience)

So, what are you getting with this update?

2025 Side Nav is back

Hrm, that's a little hard to see. So I spun up a new site (and used the very cool cloud-to-cloud copy product data feature) to do some side-by-side comparisons. (No, not that side-by-side feature.)

2025 vs 2020 Nav

Summary

Ooof I have a lot of stuff in my fake Backlog

Boards

Issue

Huh, after having done the screenshots... it doesn't seem that bad. But hey, let's discuss.

[Darryl Lee]

Because I was blissfully unaware of the EAP and Beta (oh right, I was working on migrating us from Server to Cloud last year), I missed out on some very critical feedback.

Notably, the venerable @John Funk asks What is the New Navigation Being Created? but I really think he was wondering WHY?

One of the most frustrating things you can do to Jira users is constantly monkey with the interface. For awhile there are top navigation menus. Then all of sudden there are side navigation options. Then a combination. Then JWM comes out with a product specific top nave menu structure which is different from all of the other tools. 

And now a different navigation/menu structure is being worked on. Surely, you saw the uproar when the product navigation was changed recently. And the feedback was so bad, there were parts that had to be put back in place. 

Simply put, you can't keep doing this to your user base. If you roll this out, there amount of screaming will be at an all time high. The attitude in the past seems to have been, let them scream for a while and eventually they will get over it. And all of the new customers will see only the new one anyway, so it all works out. 

Yes. The term I'm going to try to get trending is "UI Whiplash".

Now, back on 2020, commenting on @Rachel Wright's excellent 2020 Evolution of Jira Design - Part 2, our good friend @Matt Doar wrote:

UI Design still feels like the fashion industry to me. Wait a couple of years and a new fashion will come along. Entertaining to watch.

To echo John, I don't think it's very entertaining for users, but rather, pretty frustrating. And for the admins who have to support them.

Ah well, maybe we get top nav back in 2027, just like in 2020, per @Administrator 's comment.

[Yatish Madhav]

Brilliant post @Darryl Lee  - thanks!

Yeah, love the progression and the customizability that has been introduced over time .... but totally agree that the way it was rolled out and allowing the option to switch back to the old UI will be a benefit that Atlassian should do some analytics on that they can share, just to get more real-world states as 97% def seems to subjective!

[Haddon Fisher]

I once worked at a super-large financial information company...not naming names, but it started with a "B" and ended in a "oomberg LP". Their core product was "the terminal" and when they call it that there's a good reason: it looks like someone reinvented DOS with a bit more colors. My first day, I was so shocked I laughed and made a comment to my boss about how we needed to hire some better designers. I will never forget his response:

"The purpose of a user interface is to allow users to interface with the application, so you need to evaluate it on those terms. Our users value speed and efficiency above all else so yes - in the year 2008 we still largely operate with a command line, because that's what gives our users what they actually need. It also is what they're used to, and even if we did want to improve the UI, we'd need to be extremely purposeful about it to make sure our user's experience and patterns weren't disrupted more than the minimal amount."

They began rolling out primarily mouse-based functionality in I think 2011 or 2012. We got rich text messaging in 2013. We heard a lot about the UI, but not from people who used it.

My dad, an architect and construction project manager said it slightly differently: Form follows function.

• Change fatigue is real, but is particularly acute when it involves UI's.
• Even ostensibly "good" changes can net out to negative value when the user impact is high.
• The best UI is the one that lets the user do the most amount of what they do, the most efficiently they can do it.

Things like inconsistency in patterns, frequent changes, and not aligning with the users on their actual needs are going to continue to result in feedback like this.

[Jonathan Cyr]

New UI is terrible.

All the menus you removed from the top nav bar just add clicks when we naviguate. The left hand side menu is now extremely bloated and cramped.

Projects admins are forced to see evey other projects in the left hand side menu. Previously, they could see their board AND naviguate inside the project menus from the left hand side easily. 

[a_bondarchuk]

I agree with my fellow sufferers that the new Jira UI is just awful. I don't know what dictated such changes, but if the company loves its community, then maybe it would be worth conducting an open survey? I think this is fair for those people who have been using your products for years.

Why this side menu, I don't understand. It is terribly inconvenient, unusual and ineffective. And it's not that it is unusual, but that it is simply poorly done. The design itself looks good and I like everything here.

[Darryl Lee]

@a_bondarchuk wow, I don't think @Varsha Patel meant to, but it seems like this is a direct response to your request that Atlassian does an open survey:

• Join our research study: Seeking participants to help us improve Atlassian’s navigation 

[Sylvain Bernard]

What the heck!!! this new UI is terrible and wasting my time... I can't find anything anymore.

[Sam Speight]

Been using the new UI for about a month. Personally, I really like what they have done, it's modular and customisable. Sensible design means it didn't take long to get used to. Great job Atlassian.

[Mathew Orchard]

Honestly - the new UI interface is absolutely AWFUL - why have you done this? There is no valid reason to make these changes. Please consider making this change optional, our entire company have expressed their sincere dislike!

[elventails]

My eyeballs were just assaulted by it :P

+1 on option to toggle / stay on older UI/UX - the dev evolution of the UI/UX in Jira could be handled more gracefully.

[Michelle Cirimele]

Please provide an option for new users to use the old UI, this new one is horrible. We just signed up for Cloud and have only just set up the test environment. I can guarantee you our users are NOT going to be happy when we roll this out. 

[jmswartz]

We need an option for reverting to the old UI, not sure why Atlassian thought the changes were a good idea, based on almost 98 percent negative feedback on those changes. These changes are starting to shift the momentum to cutting ties with Atlassian and moving toward using another product. My entire staff is in full revolt. 

[George Villagaray]

Jira out here demonstrating how to kill your userbase overnight.  Communicate your changes and listen to the user on UI or your users will just move to the other workflow tools.

[Stephanie Cavanagh]

The new UI is just...horrific. There are so many critical support items that have been left sitting for YEARS that would have had such a meaningful impact, but this is where Atlassian decided to dedicate resources? Why, just why? Please give users the ability to revert back to the previous UI.

[Jesenko Bajovic]

Recent Cloud Jira & Confluence UI changes: critical feedback

Atlassian built its brand on engineers serving engineers. Abrupt UI overhauls—and removal of critical functions—feel misaligned with that heritage. We/I will also evaluate alternatives for all future efforts.

I’ve championed Jira and Confluence since 2004; they remain powerful products. But disruptive changes without adequate communication jeopardize user trust. I hope Atlassian re-engages with its core audience before more teams are forced to look elsewhere.

[Renick]

I’d like to raise a point regarding missing information that used to be available. For example, when looking at the sprint – how long is it running? The dates and day counter have been removed, which makes it hard to track. We’ve now started creating calendar entries just to get an overview.. which feels a bit absurd, doesn’t it? 

From an accessibility perspective, it’s also quite challenging to navigate. The sidebar is overloaded with items, and on top of that, there’s the tab navigation. I don’t need 80% of these tabs.. they just make it harder for me to find the things I actually use.

I also feel that the new UI introduces more text elements, many of which are quite small and have low contrast. This makes some parts of the interface difficult to read, at least for me.

[Kimberly Anderson]

Who has time to relearn all things Jira???  I dont even have time to read all the notices sent by Atlassian

[Haddon Fisher]

The prompt might be a bit unfair, but even Rovo acknowledges the issues...

[Darryl Lee]

@Haddon Fisher I was trying to remember what we had chatted about previously, and it was Atlassian's stated goal of "One navigation for all products"

But before I found that, Google revealed this old post of yours from a mere years and 8 mos ago, and gosh if it isn't... prescient? Something?

• Is Jira One Product Or Several? 

[George Villagaray]

This change looks like it was a planned obsolescence.  They removed the IT Software Project type (and if you're a history buff this was their starting module).  Makes sense as EVERY OTHER module they have is a depreciated variant of IT Software Project which followed the actual textbook guidelines from PMBoK and Agile Practices.  Killing off IT Software Project forces users to purchase addons and upgrades in order to obtain the functions originally available.

[Y_ Oezl]

I have tested it as a system administrator and now I am actively using it. This new UI is simply "DISGRACE"

side navigation system is so complicated, you open 2 projects with everything together, they mix with dashboard or mix with filters. you can't find what you want.... I am officially disgusted.

I don't know who decided that this is user friendly but I congratulate him for such a bad design and uselessness. 

I wish there was a use the old button. It only complicates the work of system administrators like me. I enter and exit 100 projects a day, I am dealing with so many filters etc. I can never find what I am looking for on the left side.

[George G]

Whoever masterminded this disaster of an ‘upgrade’ should be utterly ashamed. They need to stop hiding behind excuses, upgrade their self-awareness, and face the reality that this was a colossal failure on every level.

[Bashar Nabi]

If the goal of this "upgraded UI" was to ensure loss of productivity and confusion, then "Mission Accomplished".   Who in their right mind would think that this is an improvement?  The key principles of good UI/UX like clarity and simplicity were tossed aside.   The UI looks so busy and cluttered that it is painful to navigate.  It doesn't offer any clear benefits over the previous version and simply forces long time Jira users to relearn a new UI.

[Geoffrey Maddock]

Curious if there's anything that explains the massive performance improvements in the new UI.
Our team has been talking about this a decent bit.  Can't put a number on it, but it feels much snappier.

[Alexander Swann]

I'm sorry. We all hate it. It's awful. Give us the option to switch back to legacy at the very least. I'm begging you!