Welcome Wednesday: Unique Jira uses? 🍻

[Dave LIAO]

👋 Nǐ hǎo Atlassian Community!

It's time for another Welcome Wednesday, a chance to participate here on the forums about topics that might not be Atlassian-related - except this week, since we're talking Jira! (Check out past Welcome Wednesdays.)

Historically, Jira has been used to track bugs and manage IT projects. Over time, it has expanded to handle service requests, orchestrate marketing projects, and align entire enterprises.

But did you know that Jira is flexible enough to track practically anything?

• Community Champion @Kythera uses it to track their hobbies - Unique Uses for Jira: Hobby Planning & Tracking
• Jira has been used to track beer - I’m one degree separated from this person and wish I knew them - JIRA As a Beer Inventory System
• I’m pretty sure one of my friends planned his wedding using Jira - but I can’t find evidence of it online, so it might not have happened? 😬

📣 Have you used Jira in ways that feel special to you? Seen Jira used in an unusual way? Thinking about using Jira to manage a project that we might find surprising?

💬 Share in the comments!

[Matt Doar _Adaptavist_]

I've used Jira as the underlying platform for a large number of different customized tools over the years. I found a few things that it didn't do well (act as a version control system, N:N data relationships) but almost everything else was a matter of looking at the problem from different angles until it becomes clear what spaces and work items can be used to represent.

I did try it for a while to keep track of the videos my wife and I had watched. There were some user adoption problems in the end. Perhaps I should have used Trello 

[Amanda Barber]

We used Trello briefly for tracking home projects, but couldn't get it to "stick." Sometimes I think my husband and I use Jira too much for work to want to use it outside of that, LOL! 

[Dave LIAO]

@Amanda Barber - I tried using Trello to track things with a partner, but neither of us could stick to it either!

We ended up using a shared spreadsheet to track things, which seems to have a low barrier to entry for many home use cases. Which doesn't make a lot of sense to ME.

A shared calendar does wonders in many home situations, and "makes sense" to family and friends that I've coordinated with the past.

(Of course, I'm only one data point.)

[Amanda Barber]

Yes! A shared calendar and Google sheets keeps our house running!

[Amanda Barber]

I've often thought about how Jira (or, more likely, Trello) could be used to track Project-Based Learning with High Schoolers. When I was still teaching, we were moving towards a project-based learning model. I remember seeing a tool students used that looked very similar to most project tracking tools. This is the closest one I can find that has good images to get an idea of how similar it could be to using Atlassian tools. I could see it being useful to use the whole teamwork collection to track student learning! 

[Dave LIAO]

LMS-wise, the best I've personally used (and still use) is Trailhead. It gives me a cool sense of accomplishment as I complete lessons, and I have a better sense of what I've done, what I've left to do, and what I COULD learn when I have time.

I'm a big eLearning nerd, there was a time in the past where I thought I was going to do that professionally... 🤣

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hey @Dave LIAO

Great Topic 

Yes, but probably not the way you're expecting.🙃😁

I was once using Jira to track privately... how to make my first dog lose some weight because he was too fat. 😅

Btw. To track beer are another great app 

https://untappd.com/

[Dave LIAO]

@Arkadiusz Wroblewski - I love it!! 🐶

Untappd seems pretty cool, if I drank more beer I'd probably get into it. I have a few friends who heavily use the app, and it's cool to see how its user interface has evolved over the years.

I remember seeing Untappd back in the Foursquare (pre-Swarm) days! 🍻

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Ekhem 

[Dave LIAO]

@Arkadiusz Wroblewski - cheers to that!

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Dave LIAO 🍻

[Dave LIAO]

Forgot to mention that one of my friends actually has a Jira Service Management instance to accept requests from her family members.

If I could get away with that with my own family, I'd probably do it. I do maintain a shared task list (in a non-Atlassian app) that everyone has access to but only I have the discipline/time to update. 🤣

[Brita Moorus]

Haha, that's genius!

[Dave LIAO]

Yeah, when she told me about it I thought she was joking. Then she mentioned she had a portal and a few request types. 💙

[Brita Moorus]

I used Jira to manage my entire apartment renovation 😄 ⚒️

Every room became an epic, with tasks for contractors, materials and furniture. I tracked timelines, budgets, receipts, dependencies, and even created reminders for things that had long lead times. It made it much easier to see what was on track, what was delayed, and where the budget was going.

It might not be the most traditional Jira project, but it worked surprisingly well! 💙

[Dave LIAO]

Did you use any Marketplace apps to help with your project?

I've used Structure Gantt (Cloud) for my projects since I'm used to that app from using it a lot in Jira Data Center.

[Brita Moorus]

Nope, all in Free plan & native functionality 🤓

[Brita Moorus]

Another thing that just popped into my mind... I also planned our entire trip to Tanzania in Jira! We had separate epics for summiting Kilimanjaro, safari and Zanzibar, with tasks for everything from shopping for hiking gear and obtaining national park permits to booking accommodation and safari vehicle, planning activities, and creating a checklist for spotting all of the Big Five 🦁🐘🦏🐆🐃

Looking back, it might have been one of my favorite "non-work" Jira projects 😄 🌴

[Dave LIAO]

Niiiiiiice, hopefully you took advantage of the Jira mobile app too!

[Katie Lai - Seibert]

I love this idea! 

[Brita Moorus]

Yes, mobile app was used a lot! 

[Anwesha Pan]

@Brita Moorus would you prefer jira or trello for the same trip plan?

[Brita Moorus]

I feel more comfortable with Jira customization & automation options so I have to say Jira 🙈 

[zoltanersek _outpostlabs_dev_]

Wow, tracking beer huh? That's certainly a unique way of using it. 

[Dave LIAO]

Nowadays I'd recommend the user use Assets, since beer truly is an asset. 🤣

[Anne Saunders]

My kids are grown and flown, but when they were in junior high and high school, we used Jira as a family.

Musical rehearsals, marching brand practice, doctors' appointments, sleepovers, family activities - all on the board, with custom fields to show who's invited, who is driving, and when we need to leave, plus Checklist for Jira Pro to assign each attendee their personal tasks.

Mom may be packing the cooler, but it's the kid's job to have their marching uniform and shoes together for competition!

[Amanda Barber]

Wow, love this idea. We're a few years from an empty nest still...

[Dave LIAO]

@Anne Saunders - yow, just gave you kudos for that commitment!

[Anne Saunders]

Project Mama-ger is a whole job 😂

Thanks, @Dave LIAO

[Katie Lai - Seibert]

I can't say I've used Jira for anything super interesting in my personal life (though I WISH I had used it for wedding planning...) but these responses are giving me ideas!!

Now I'm thinking Jira would be good for tracking workout/ training progress, especially leading up to a race!

[Amanda Barber]

I love that idea! I just started using a really elaborate spreadsheet and am liking it mostly. I like to be able to track progress over time so I'm digging the reporting capabilities in Sheets! I could see Jira working well for a training plan though.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

I'll just post this - mum is throwing emojis at my Loom video for our trip to Portugal in a couple of weeks 😂

This is also a little sneak peek at an article series I’m planning to publish later this year about how I use Atlassian tools in my personal life 🫣

[Amanda Barber]

Can't wait to see this, @Tomislav Tobijas!! 

[Wayne_Reilly]

I am using Jira for tracking my Honda CX500 cafe racer project. Finding parts, links to Youtube instructional videos, what to do when on the bike, specialists in different areas, and tasks I've got to get done. I've also added costs to each task as well so I've got an idea of what each part and total is costing me.

[Ben Spillane]

🎄 Christmas Lights 🎄

I'm using the Atlassian platform to manage my 2026 Christmas Light display. The scrum side of things has fully kicked off (as at June) with a 10 Sprint Timeline. 

The Atlassian platform is a powerful tool for managing anything!

My XMAS space is leveraging many of the long standing Jira capabilities, such as:

• Components
• Releases + Fix versions
• Estimation and time tracking
• Sprints (brilliant for keeping focused on the prize)

I'm also using the wider Atlassian platform as it all integrates so cleanly, and always improving. For example: 

• Confluence for documenting plans and ideas
• Confluence Whiteboards for rapid planning and backlog creation 
  • I have an article for this one already - check it out :) 
• Assets for managing physical allocation of real work lights and props

Stretch goals for this yeah, but more likely next year would be: 

• JSM integration for neighbours or public users to log requests for realtime light sequence choices (jukebox style).
• JSM integration for logging requests for personalised textual message display on matrix style LED props.... Will probably need some Rovo Agents here to ensure messages are "above board". haha

Hey, it's fun times. 

We also have a family Jira board too for daily operational needs and attempting to stay organised. It's part of our dual 24" touch screen "smart home" display. 

[Anne Saunders]

This is truly aspirational. Well done!

[Dave LIAO]

@Ben Spillane - That's awesome Ben! You should write your own article on the forums - if you haven't already! 🙌

[Dave LIAO]

p.s. and I see you've linked an article above! Woo! 💪

[Ben Spillane]

Yeah I need to peel another article idea of the backlog 😁 and yes I have a ”I must write about that” style backlog in one of my personal Jira boards 🤣