Say hello and tell us: what's on your desk?

[Deleted user]

hahaha I need this comedy in my office!

[Alana Fernando]

:D good one @Max Foerster - K15t

[Robert Kowalewski]

Aloha,

I just got "knighted" by my boss: 

"You know, JIRA - customers, issues and such-, take care of it." 

Yeah... This ought to be fun, yes? :)

Cheers,
R

[Monique vdB]

@Robert Kowalewski well, you've come to the right place! :) 

This is a great discussion with some good general advice. Or let me know what else I can point you towards! You may also be able to connect with others in your field -- what industry are you in? 

[Robert Kowalewski]

@Monique vdB Thank you :)

Actually, you can point me somewhere. Though I have a little experience as a JIRA user, I know little to nothing about the entire admin section - set up projects, schemes, portal pages etc. I've read some of the tutorials and such, but a (short?) how-to on setting up a small scale service desk operation would really help me to get started. Getting my JIRA termini technici straight would help, too :)

Thanks again.

Cheers
R

[Davin Studer]

@Robert Kowalewski Found this youtube series helpful for learning the basics of Jira.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7NXmFqgPBo

[Monique vdB]

@Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority has taken every certification and training known to man (and woman) -- Boris, is there one that might be helpful for Robert? 

Also @Jack Brickey is a master of Service Desk and will probably have some pointers as well.

Final suggestion: where are you located? Do you have a local Atlassian User Group you can join? 

[Jack Brickey]

Certainly happy to assist for sure. My best advice for learning the basics of administration for any of the apps would be to stand up a trial instance and walk thru the basic getting started guide. For JSD you can find the cloud version here. You can stand up a trial in cloud literally in minutes. Then it is a 'simple' matter of diving in. You will learn more from doing than anything and it will funnel your questions to the surface. Then a quick search in the Community will answer the vast majority of your beginning questions and if not the champions and Atlassian's are there to quickly respond for sure. You should also have in place a 'development' instance where you can try things out w/o worrying about impacting production.

With all that said, keying on your mention of being knighted, if you are in a small company (say <200 users and maybe 25 active projects) then admin demands are generally not too bad. These are just random guidelines here.  However, when you start going beyond that you need to start considering more of a dedicated resource or at least 50% of the individuals time. Something to keep in mind.

[Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority]

Robert let me start by saying you're in an extremely common situation. You will fail, again, and again, and again. It's ok. Don't let it overwhelm you. We have all been there, and we overcame, and so will you.

Very high-level resources are:

• The community here will help you learn little by little.
• There are books you can read from Rachel Wright and Matt Doar
  • I have a preference for the Matt Door book, but mostly because my name is in it 😁
• Your local AUG is a great spot to get help
• Team Tour / Summit is a great place to meet people and learn
  • They also do on-site hands-on training there
• You can work with Atlassian partners like us to help you get unblocked
• You can do paid training via either Atlassian, or partners like us
• You can watch free webinars from Atlassian, partners like us, or from Marketplace Vendors that cover a variety of topics
  • Historical ones are available at https://www.atlassian.com/webinars/all
• Youtube has a ton of content
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIn1zxAbrv8&list=PLaD4FvsFdarSWUyuv6cto4gunIvVzDTGD - The old Atlassian University training from Jira 6. This used to be a paid course, and while outdated is still spot on for most content.
  • Broad tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoAtlassian/playlists?shelf_id=10&view=50&sort=dd
  • Webinars: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoAtlassian/playlists?shelf_id=11&view=50&sort=dd

My biggest advice is don't focus on learning how to do XYZ. Your first goal is to learn the vocabulary. It's the same thing as learning a new language. Learn what Atlasssian means when they say "scheme". Then when you run across 10 different scheme types, you will understand whats going on intuitively, even if you don't know how to make the change you want. From there, asking the right questions will be much easier.

And the document I always point everyone at is: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[BiancaE]

@Fabienne Gerhard Welcome! I'm also a child of the dark. Unless it's natural light from a window, I'd very much rather be in a dark or soft light. I mostly just hate overhead and fluorescent lights!

[Celina Zamora]

Great tips @Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority ! 

[Blake Hodder]

@Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority These tips are fantastic. I have been using JIRA as a user but am now diving in deeper. I will be looking through these.

[Robert Kowalewski]

@Monique vdB

Thanks a lot for the tips, really appreciate it. 

Locationwise I am sitting currenty in Germany. As far as joining a group: haven't thought about it yet, but it seems like a good idea to join a "self-help grop" ;)

@Boris Berenberg - Atlas Authority Yep, getting the lingo sorted out is really the first thing on my list, otherwise I'll get nowhere. Also, thanks for the info. The only issue I got is time - which puts some pressure on me.

Also: kudos to the community and the community managers, it's always a pleasure to see such dedicated and helpful peeps - I think this will make a difference in all regards.

For now I'll be ploughing through the basics and see where it'll take me. Thanks again!

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Hi @BiancaE - a warm welcome wave to a child of the dark :)

[MaryP]

Hi I am Mary,

I have been developing websites for customers for 20 years.  We use an agile process with programmers and customers.  Our goal is to assure we are giving customers what they ask for and to minimize hours spent in development.  We love jira for the accountability it provides our customers.

[Erica Moss]

Welcome, @MaryP! 👋🏼

[Silvia Ohr]

Hi, I am Silvia from Sydney Australia. I work for the Australian Securities Exchange, looking after our Testing & QA, Web Development and Enterprise applications teams.

Here is a photo of my desk and it is quite special. I took it last year, after my old boss had left the company and I was given his coveted desk - it is one of the best ones on the floor. I took the photo and sent it to him to tell him I 'had moved in'. :-)

[Erica Moss]

@Silvia Ohr Looks like you've settled in nicely! 😆

[Anton Perera]

Hello everyone!! I'm Anton Perera, and I'm a Team Lead at Kalyt Solutions, Sri Lanka. I'm working with my team as a Team Lead (as a Project Manager in some times and as a Product Manager in some times.) I work with my team to develop Solutions for Customers as well as to improve our Software Products. We have Web Based Solutions as our Products and also we develop Custom Solutions for the Business needs too.

I'm a little bit newbie in here Atlassian Community. But I always loved to interact with Communities as I already working with some other communities too and help who needs some help and guide. Hope to have some help when needed with Atlassian Products and also hope give my best in Atlassian Community. :)

I love Sports (specially Badminton, Cricket, Football but love all the sports), Reading Books, Watching TV Series (kind of an addiction of mine :D), Watching Movies (specially Comics and Sci-Fi), Solving Puzzles/Problems, Learning new languages, Studying different cultures, Travel the lists goes on.

The below picture is my desk. My desk is little bit larger than my small needs as you see. But It is very comfortable for hands to have a good space in desk when I work. You may notice the key-tag of the Key of my Motor Bike. :D. I love that and it was given to me by the most special person in my life. :)

[Alana Fernando]

hi @Anton Perera welcome to the community! and happy to meet another SriLankan here 😊.you will surely find inspiring discussions  and articles here which would help you in your work. 

we should high five for the TV Series addiction and nice key chain by the way. 

[Anton Perera]

Hi!
Thanks.
Yeah.. of course..
:)

[Cesar Duran]

Hey all,

Another Atlassian lover here. Administrating Jira and Confluence around the world from my comfortable desk in Boca Raton, Florida.

[Erica Moss]

Welcome, @Anton Perera! I, too, love badminton, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of you. 😄

[Erica Moss]

@Cesar Duran Welcome, welcome!

[Anton Perera]

Thanks. Yeah.. of course. Already engaging with community as much as possible. :)