Again with the sidebar layout?

[Ethan Vaughan]

I can't believe Atlassian is doing it again. For those who don't know, 5-8 year ago, Jira Cloud was cursed with this awfully ugly sidebar layout, everyone hated it. Users saw what Jira Server (ya know, the classic Jira layout) looked like and asked how we can switch to that. "Sorry, we're on Cloud unfortunately," is all I could reply with. Then, Atlassian finally listened, after years of complaining, and changed Jira Cloud's layout to resemble Jira Server, which is what we have today and which is what we're losing. Now, the big brains in Atlassian, decide, yet again, to FORCE everyone back to an inferior layout, and this time forcing it on Confluence as well. This is clearly just developer churn. Step 1: Create product everyone likes. Step 2: Alter product in a way that everybody hates in order to justify working on something new. Step 3: Ignore feedback for a few years. Step 4: After some time, "fix" the problem and alter the product back to the way people liked it. Step 5: Claim that you listened to community and you're the savior of said product. Step 6: Repeat.

Nobody asked for this new layout style, this is clearly just churn where developers just do new stuff just to pad their resume and can claim innovation, despite going against what the actual users and admins want. All the while, they give you ZERO option to opt-out. These developers cannot be bothered to fix the THOUSANDS of requests to fix issues with the platform itself because that isn't sexy and fixing an issue that people have been requesting for years just wastes developer time because they like having a product that has deficiencies, as long as it looks like you're doing something new. "Oh, can't fix that, it's in the backlog, it must be a bug with the new layout. Sorry." Instead of fixing the cracks in the walls, they just decide to apply a fresh coat of paint, because fixing the cracks would mean they would have to fix the foundation; and which is easier and cheaper?

I can't believe we have to go through this garbage sidebar once again. I thought those days were over. Oh, and you think this rant of mine is new? I was saying the exact same thing when they changed the layout to sidebar, suffered for years with it, and then they came back and changed it back and claimed to deserve all the praise for their innovation.

Mark my words, in 5 years or less, they will revert Jira and Confluence back to how it looks today, or close to it.

[Ethan Vaughan · Accepted solution]

For example, one request here: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-92887.

Created in 2019, and 2000 people have said they want this feature. What feature? Jeez it's been 6 years, that has got to be some kind of crazy developer burn if they can't provide it in 6 years. The request is to just 

Add granular permissions relating to version control.

Admins would like to have just a little more management on permissions levels. Not some kind of groundbreaking new feature, just a couple extra lines on a screen.

But no, here comes Atlassian TELLING US what we need, and that what we actually need doesn't matter.

[Nikola Perisic]

Hello @Ethan Vaughan 

I understand where you are coming from. I saw also a lot of changes lately, which can be both good and bad. A lot has been invested in cloud along with the concept of System of Work. This is just the process of how it is. Changes do happen, and the changes will keep happening.

Now for this part that you say that Atlassian is bringing the features they want, don't know what to say there really. For the future, we are certain that more features will be coming on.

[Ethan Vaughan]

I know how it works. I've been administrating these products for 9 years now. 

[Jean Gordon]

Unfortunately they are bad 

Due to the inefficient changes we have had to increase our daily standups or not use the board as there are too many clicks to action issues during the call.

Accessibility is a joke as the changes are not fit for purpose.

[Marcel Hager]

As a system of work or a system of record, Jira/JSM cloud is lacking at best. It seems like at every turn I'm running into something that should have been in place before even releasing the product, or it's a feature that customers have been asking to get for years and still isn't implemented.

Now normally I'd just find way around that, create custom configurations, etc. or even a custom app built on the platform to accomplish what I need (or more importantly what the business needs) but even that isn't possible in most cases with JSM.

I know that Jira is very popular with certain groups, but for ITSM functions so many things are missing that the product doesn't even feel like it should be out of Beta yet.

[Nikola Perisic]

Hello everyone.

This community is for solving the issues that the users have in technical terms. For any concerns, please raise a support ticket for Atlassian support. We as Atlassian champions cannot do much about that. Thanks for understanding!

[Ethan Vaughan]

Nikola, we're here to complain. We know you cannot do anything about it.

[Dick]

To get such a valuable message across, one should best:

1. Address the real decision makers (not take things out on devs)
2. Use an appropriate channel (not misuse these help-giving forums)
3. Bring as many as possible compelling arguments to the table

I’m not thrilled by the upcoming changes in menu structure either, as my user base hasn’t been exposed to such changes at all for over 15 years (it’s one of the reasons why we’re on Datacenter Jira and trailing behind the Cloud on LTS versions). 

I therefore would like you to adjust your approach in voicing your concerns to the decision makers at Atlassian. And hey, I would support your cause gladly.

Kind regards,
Dick

[Darryl Lee]

@Dick I would agree that we shouldn't take things out on Devs. Or on PMs, even. :-}

But to your point about trying to reach "decision makers".

Yes, there's support tickets.

Yes there is JAC.

But it's difficult to feel like voices are being heard when old bugs/suggestions/etc. just seem to stick around forever, gathering dust and votes. 

With regard to this:

2. Use an appropriate channel (not misuse these help-giving forums)

Considering that PMs at Atlassian have been using this channel (Community Forums) to announce new features, UI changes, etc. for years, and not disabling comments on those posts (and in some cases, responding!), it kind of does feel like this is one place where users CAN reach decision makers.