What's your workflow with the Status Field, and why does the placement change break it?

[#1]

I think it's safe to say the change to the location of the status field is controversial. 

Now, I'll be honest. I don't have a problem with the change. In fact, it makes a lot more sense to me under the Summary. A lot of you asked me why, and told me that I never expanded upon it. You're right. I was a little busy with a set of VMs being down, lol.

However, there are several reasons that I'm now happy to expand upon: 

1. The first thing I do when opening a work item is look at the Summary. The Status field being directly below that is extremely convenient for me. 
2. I was using Jira Data Center daily for most of my life. The Status field has never moved from underneath the Summary field on Data Center. 
3. It only changed four years ago. See #2. When I did use Cloud, it wasn't my primary experience, and so it was a crapshoot whether I'd feel one way or another about it, or what the experience of the instance was. 
4. I'm not usually changing status on the issue view. I'm way more likely to be changing statuses by moving them around on boards, or changing them in list view. So it's not a pain point I hit regularly. 
5. If I change a status from the issue view, I do it when I open a work item, or when I'm completely done with it. There's no particular problem for me with the Status being where it is, because it's natural to me to swing back up to the top of the page after being done with a work item (see #2), or I'm going in to change the status because I already consumed the update that told me it was ready to change from somewhere else (email, Slack, etc.) 
6. When I'm working with a large number of work items that need their statuses changed, I'm far more likely to use Automation or advanced workflow configurations to make it happen. I happen to believe that nobody should be making regular status changes to large numbers of work items by hand. That's what workflows and Automation exist for. There were a bunch of people who brought this up as one of their issues, and it's just not one I resonate with, because it seems like an example of an admin not taking advantage of the opportunity to improve the lives of their users by teaching them a couple really simple ways to make things easier, or monitoring user behavior to recommend workflow configurations. 

But that's enough about me. I want to hear from you.

I've read a lot of comments about how the move of the Status button is a regression or a problem for many of you. That much is clear. 

But what I haven't heard is why, at least not in a way I understand. 

So, in order for me to understand a bit better, I want to ask this: what workflows are you executing that have you changing the status on a work item from the issue view, and do you believe those workflows ahave been optimal overall? If so, why? 

I'm hoping to get some clarity on how people are using Jira in ways that seem somewhat foreign to me so I can expand my understanding, and also to see if there are ways I can help folks deal with the change by suggesting improved workflows or processes they may not know about. 

Just let it out!!

[Amanda Hart]

I'm a developer. I look at my board, choose the next appropriate ticket, and open it up individually because I do not like having the clutter of the board or a modal when I am focused on one particular item. I read my ticket's description which already is potentially multiple paragraphs and screenshots, then maybe there's some back and forth in the comments too. Then I go to work.

When I run into a question while I'm working, I go back to my ticket, write a comment, and now have to scroll allllllll the way back to the top of the ticket to update the ticket to "Awaiting Feedback". Previously I just write my comment and changed the status in the sidebar, no scrolling needed.

If I finish my work, I write a comment with details, then I now I have to scroll allllllll the way back to the top of the ticket to change the status to whatever the next step in the process is (testing, resolved, etc). Previously I just write my comment and change the status in the sidebar, no scrolling needed.

It's a ton of unnecessary scrolling, when the previous UI worked and required no extra scrolling.

ETA: I don't want to update the status before I post my comment, since the next status step will not be actionable until I actually do post my comment. Can't give feedback if the feedback isn't posted; can't test without instructions; etc.

[Kyle Simpson]

The comments on the original thread outline a lot of reasons, and even UX advice!

For me, it's primarily the top two things:

1. I liked the grouping with other issue attributes I change when setting up the issue. I set status, due date, and do a lot of other things in the right column.

2. In similar vain, now I have to do the things I used to in the right column, and move cursor across my large monitor screen and/or scroll up (if im working in comments) to change the status.

3. Like many people said, the solution is simple, make it "sticky" or restore it.

4. Muscle memory - changes are jarring and against human nature, especially to key functionality like status that gets updated a lot.

I'd like to hear why the change is better, from Atlassian's perspective, beyond "some users were confused". Feels they're catering more to general/marketing types and moving away from this being a software developer oriented product, which is a big misstep, IMO.

[Troy Anderson]

It sounds like you don't care where it is on the screen because you don't use the screen.  In that case, your opinion is moot.  

[R Noecker]

So you haven't heard why in the thousand plus comments addressing this concern?  I guess folks are just really bad at explaining themselves, and they are even worse at using software they have been using every day of their lives for many years.

It also sounds like this change doesn't affect you, but the previous location also doesn't affect you, and I don't think that trumps everyone else's experience.  

[Darryl Lee]

Heyo @Bryan Guffey --

As we've talked about, thanks to @Jo-Anne MacLeod's comment on my LinkedIn post supporting moving "the status button back to where it was originally, before it was a drop-down", I did some research and realized, holy crap, yeah, Status has only been in right-hand nav for... 5-6 years.

So, let's have a history lesson

Based on JRACLOUD-70555 it looks like the Status button moving to the right-hand nav was part of the "New Issue View that was released as opt-out (oof) starting in early 2019. Apparently as of Feb 2019, "Business projects ... [had] the new issue view for well over a year and half."

It looks like after a whopping 3-years (can you imagine such a long feedback/fixing period nowadays?) where you could still opt-out, they finally forced people off of "Old Issue View" in Dec 2021. (Oh look, it's our pal @Ahmud Auleear who made that announcement. Man, sorry dude.)

So there were of course comments (255 on the post, 402 on the Jira ticket), but interestingly, not a lot of anger over the Status button move. Or really none. Sure, people didn't like putting transitions in a drop-down and losing buttons. But I don't think anyone complained that they no longer had to scroll to see Status/Assignee/etc.

In my research I found jiraCloudTips.pdf - Overview of key differences in Jira Software Cloud doc (I believe it's from 2021) that looks like Atlassian gave UPenn for their transition from Server to Cloud, and while they don't explicitly call out the Status field/button, they do note the difference:

Key changes to issue view
Jira Software Cloud has a new issue view that groups key actions and
information in a more logical way, making it easier for you to scan and update
your issues. It usually appears as a 2-column layout on boards and as a single
column in the backlog but is responsive to the size of your window.

---

---

At least back in 2021, Atlassian saw value in "group(ing) key actions and
information in a more logical way, making it easier for you to scan and update
your issues".

Where is Status on Data Center?

What's wild is, as we can see from JRACLOUD-96247 which lives on a Data Center instance (when are you going to migrate, Atlassian?), the Status field in Data Center is under Issue Summary, similar to where the new change in Cloud puts it:

You'll note that the right-hand nav column isn't pinned at all. When you scroll through that issue, you lose sight of the the Status as well as Assignee and Reporter. One wonders if Atlassian is going all retro on us. Is it to provide a more familiar interface for the 1% of their customers who haven't yet migrated to Cloud? That'd be weird.

My points here are...

• Atlassian made a huge UI change 5-6 years ago. However, they also spent 3 years listening and addressing feedback to try to make it right.
• Yes, people complained. But clearly (based on feedback to this most recent change), they also liked and grew to rely on the fact that Status was pinned in that right-hand nav.

It is surprising that their usability and A/B tests never surfaced how important this was to users. Were the examples not realistic enough (Did they have more than one comment? Any comment? Were testers asked to look at comments and then check what the status of a ticket is, or to transition the ticket?) Was the sample size too small? Do people who self-select to "Try this new UI thing!" have a predisposition to LIKE new UI things?

I suppose we'll never know, as it seems unlikely that Atlassian would want to share their research data with us. But it does make one curious.

One wonders if 2025 Atlassian could take a lesson from 2021 Atlassian and maybe take a little more time on these changes.

(Yes, the recent New Navigation had a year-long EAP/Beta, but that was closed. For regular users, they were not exposed to the New Nav until March 2025, and then were stuck with it after July 2025. That is a mere 4 months.

To be fair, New Navigation primarily concerned itself with the top -> side headers, and not the core issue / board / functional views where people actually do their work.)

[Darryl Lee]

Also @Bryan Guffey I'm surprised you didn't don your fireproof suit:

But @R Noecker has a point. People have already spent time in the other thread describing their workflow. Here's some examples:

Carrie Bonnell September 18, 2025

This change means more scrolling for our teams. Could we at least make the ticket description and status fixed at the top while scrolling for lengthy tickets/work items? As we are reviewing items with longer details and updating comments, we have to scroll down to review all content, comments, etc., then scroll up, up and up again to get the the top to change status. For our teams this is not an improvement. I'm struggling to know why status was hard to find previously (top right, in fixed position). 

Robert Eiser September 18, 2025 

I completly disagree with this change. Who exactly did you talk to before making this change? We often have to scroll down into an issue to see comments, and now we can no longer see the status as it is hidden at the top of the issue! The whole point of a details sidebar is to see the details of the issue. Status is a critical detail, and now it is hidden at the top of the issue.

Cassie Camerer September 19, 2025

UPDATE:  This has been so frustrating.  I'm currently working on a critical release and have been verifying loads of tickets.  Every time I go to close out a ticket after commenting, I naturally move my mouse up to the right panel to update the status - now that's simply gone.  The status button doesn't appear anywhere on my screen.  I must now scroll the main window all the way back up to the top in order to update when previously, I could leave my comment then update the status easily.  Again, this change has absolutely nothing to do with making things easier.  It has made it harder and take longer.  

Michal Kováč September 23, 2025

When reading comment section, long description or I am at the bottom of the page, how can I now quickly close the ticket?

Fred Boak September 23, 2025

Well now I find the status much harder to find. Other than adding Comments, I expect all things I need to update on a ticket to be in the right column.

In addition, a lot the time I am changing both Status & Assignee (for example, when moving an item into "ready to QA" and assigning it to our QA engineer. These USED to be near each other, as I have "Assignee" as a pinned field. If I could have Status in my pinned fields, that would solve my workflow issues with the new placement.

I mean, that's just within the first 4 pages. 

Here's a few more:

Jefferson September 26, 2025

As a person with ADHD, I have, already and on more than one occasion, been in the middle of reading a comment, realized that I should update the status of a ticket, then had to scroll back to the top of the ticket to change the status so as to not forget, then had to find my place again.

Prior to today, this is something I could do without even having to look away from what I was reading.

It was frustrating enough when the active comment box became sticky in a way that it would often cover a large portion of what I would need to scroll to in order to review different information present in a ticket I was working on, but this is extremely workflow-breaking.

Enrico Gebert September 29, 2025

After testing the change a bit, I have to say it is really frustrating.
Like many others already wrote, now we get many questions where the heck the Status button went and have to explain again where to look and update documentations internally.

But this is in my opinion the smaller of the issues (we have a small team). The bigger one is an active time loss every day caused by extensive scrolling which is now necessary to look at the status:

For example, every time somebody sends me a ticket link with a pinned comment, I need to scroll up to see, in which status the ticket is, before scrolling back down to add a new comment.

If you have descriptions which are longer then a few sentences or use any images or videos, the button disappears as soon as your scroll down a bit, even before you ae in the comment section.

Another Example: We are using a "New" status for our work items which moves to "ToDo" after the item has all information added. If you write a proper description, now you need to scroll back up to prove read it and then scroll back up again, to do the status change.

A few seconds scrolling up and down might not be an issue, if you only work on one or two work items, but if you need to check many of them this can add up to minutes of your work day. Furthermore, every time you scroll away you shift your focus, and if you wanted to confirm again, because you got interrupted, you need to scroll again instead of just glancing at the ticket and hitting the button.

I'm not against changes per se, but please think more about the additional consequences they might cause.

Like suggested many times, important information should not be scrolled, so please make the button sticky, so that it is always visible. This in turn would also solve your initial design goal with making it easier to find, because it is always at the same location.

I guess if Atlassian/Khoros allowed threading in article responses, we could dig in and ask the folks above questions. 

But I don't see anything above that strikes me as an uncommon, unorthodox, or irregular usage of Jira.

[Oz Ben-Eliezer]

You wrote: "because it's natural to me to swing back up to the top of the page after being done with a work item".

Well, it's great that it's natural to you to scroll up every time.

It's not natural to me and to thousands of others.

[Matt Doar _Adaptavist_]

Y'know, a keyboard shortcut that pops a little box showing the status of the current issue would work. Thinking outside of the location box