why doesn't jira have a "customer" field as standard?

John Ruckstuhl

Yes, I know it's easy to create custom issue fields (https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Standard-Customer-Field/qaq-p/803185).  So I'm not blocked.

But every work tracking system I've ever seen has a notion of "customer" as one of ~6 basic fields, and Jira vanilla usage has dozens & dozens & dozens, but not "customer"... what am I missing?

Not knowing any better, I'm thinking that it's very easy to get caught up in "Ars Gratia Artis" instead of staying customer focused. The absence of "customer field" is strange to me, it is a missed opportunity to encourage customer-focused thinking, business-benefit focus, instead of art for the sake of art.

Discussion?

John

Joshua Sneed Contegix

Hi John,

Jira vanilla (Core) is a bare bones issue tracking system. It is built and delivered in a way that allows us to shape it as needed and that is part of what makes Jira powerful. We must keep in mind that what we need from Jira is not necessarily what others need from Jira. It is also necessary to keep in mind that Atlassian has no way of knowing exactly what every customer needs and is doing what they feel necessary to deliver a set of products that meets the needs of many as broadly as they can without diluting functionality. I recommend you check out Jira Service Desk if you're looking for a customer focused issue management and ticketing system. Cheers!