How would you rate Auto-Scheduler?

[Marcus Butler]

Hi Community,

I'm looking for a solution that will take the hard work and manual effort out of allocating work to 3 of my campaign delivery teams. I've come across this auto-scheduler feature in Jira but I am cautious about implementing it without seeing a few case studies and hearing from teams that have used it.

About our current scheduling method
We operate in a very fast paced environment.
We do not deliver software but instead, deliver marketing campaigns to various audience channels.
Fulfilment demand is fierce and very time sensitive.
Our method of allocating work currently is very manual in the sense that we:

• provide each campaign with a complexity score
• estimate the work based on effort of the likely resources (who vary in discipline and skill levels)
• rank a priority based on the business value, due date and other factors
• determine the capacity of the team leading up to the delivery date (leave vs availability)
• assess the sequence of work based on items already committed and planned

As a result of the above effort, the outcome can go three ways

1. We'll seek agreement with the relevant resources and slot the work in to the throughput plan OR
2. We'll deprioritise (effectively cancel) a committed item to make way for a higher priority item OR
3. Pause the prioritisation process for a particular item (if it ranks high enough) giving us more time to figure out how we will be able to schedule it among other high priority items

Keen to hear how others find the auto scheduler feature. Particularly anyone that have a complex prioritisation and capacity management situation.

Thanks

[Chitra Nagdeo]

Hey @Marcus Butler ,

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

The auto-scheduler in Jira is designed to help teams automate the allocation of work based on factors like priority, capacity, and due dates. While it’s most commonly used by software delivery teams, we’ve seen marketing, operations, and other non-software teams benefit from its flexibility as well.

Many teams with complex prioritisation and capacity management have reported that the auto-scheduler helps reduce manual effort, provides greater visibility into resource allocation, and supports more data-driven decision-making. For example, marketing teams have used it to balance campaign launches across multiple channels, factoring in resource skill sets and availability.

• Key Benefits:

  • Time Savings: Automates much of the manual scheduling work, freeing up your team to focus on strategy and execution.

  • Scenario Planning: Allows you to quickly see the impact of shifting priorities or resource changes.

  • Transparency: Makes it easier to communicate plans and changes to stakeholders.

Use case:

I was able to find an old article from Datacenter version, refer Use cases of Advanced Roadmap

Below are from vendors:

Jira Advanced Roadmaps: Essential Tips for Project Success

A Complete Guide to Advanced Roadmaps for Jira (2024)

I hope this should be helpful!

Regards
Chitra Nagdeo