Usage of Jira Software and Jira Service Desk (general questions)

[Manuel Niemann]

Dear community,

I am hoping to ask my questions in the right place. I am working for a small software development company with academic ties (approximately 10 developers) and we are evaluating whether we can benefit from the usage of Jira Software and Jira Service Desk.

To our background: We are continuously developing a special software tool for our customers. In order to fulfill our costumers’ needs properly, they are defining/updating a list of requirements on a regularly basis in coordination with us (e.g. each four months). This list is then the basis for the software developers.

We now want to integrate our customers more efficiently into our development process and also want to make use of agile methodologies such as SCRUM. Therefore we are currently investigating if Jira Software would fulfill our needs. So far I think that the best practice for us would be to give our customers a user account for Jira software. That way they can see the progress of current sprints, define new entries for the backlog, define new issues, and so on. Since to my understanding Jira software is foremost a tool for the actual developers, my first questions are:

• Is it rather unusual to give our customers user accounts (equipped with limited permissions) to Jira software?
• Or is it actually a good possibility to achieve a close developing process?

My next questions then are regarding Jira Service Desk:

• If you agree to our devised usage of Jira Software: Would we still need Jira Service Desk? To my understanding users of Jira Software can generate tickets (i.e. issues) as well.
• Would we nevertheless benefit from the usage of Jira Service Desk?

I am really looking forward to opinions, comments or assistance.

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards

Manuel

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Jira Software is pretty much built for supporting Scrum, so there's not really a lot of question on whether it's the right thing for you.

"So far I think that the best practice for us would be to give our customers a user account for Jira software. That way they can see the progress of current sprints, define new entries for the backlog, define new issues, and so on."

That sounds right to me, they appear to be broadly acting as your "product owners", and with a requirement for them to see all of that, the short answer is "yes".  It's normal for people to be given full accounts to see it all.  You don't want them to have the same rights as your developers (your customers should be helping you choose what goes into a sprint, not planning it for you, for example, so I wouldn't let them rank or do sprints, just see them)

For Service Desk, less so.  This is designed to insulate "customers" from the internals.  As a customer, I want you to do stuff, I don't care how it's done or what your processes are, just that it gets done.  I'm interested in service levels and feedback, but don't care what your devs are really doing.  As your customers are involved, they really don't need a service desk!

[Manuel Niemann]

Great! Thanks for the clarification!