Jira and GitHub are both great tools for managing software projects, but they offer considerably different feature sets. Though they suit different use cases, users of both can benefit from deeper integration. For teams that want to collaborate within an organization or work with external users, connecting their software can deliver huge value.
Jira is a project management system developers commonly use to break work into sprints, epics, and more. Developers use GitHub to share code and collaborate. While they’re very different, they naturally overlap, and sharing their data lets teams with distinct needs work together more effectively.
In this article, you’ll learn about a large open source company we introduced to Exalate. We helped them bring their teams together to share data. You’ll also read about the challenges they faced and how we solved them.
Why should you integrate GitHub and Jira?
The team had over 50 active GitHub repositories handling projects related to high-security operating system kernels. It was also running a Jira instance with three main trackers. All data was publicly available, and there were many types of users in varied roles.
Project users and casual contributors sometimes raised GitHub issues and pull requests, while those directly involved in development contributed to both platforms.
They wanted to improve collaboration between these groups by syncing data more tightly and ensuring issues and related discussions were available everywhere. The goal was to create smoother workflows, keep the data integrated, and still provide public access. They also wanted to stop losing track of the many GitHub issues being created.
What challenges do teams face when integrating Jira and GitHub?
The main issue was that GitHub is accessible and widely used, but less suited for complex planning and discussion. Jira is more specialized. It supports more detailed planning but isn't used the same way as GitHub. In this case, two separate communities were using the platforms, and the company wanted to ensure their work complemented each other.
More specifically, there were several big challenges the company hoped an integration would solve:
- Issues were raised in GitHub, but developers kept all related discussion in Jira. While users could view it, many only used GitHub and, in practice, never saw that information.
- Jira automation was insufficient for mapping 50 GitHub repos directly to their three Jira trackers. They needed a solution that could handle the various wrinkles across repos and allow deeper customization.
- Some issues were being missed and going stale over time. With so many repos, it was hard to keep track of them all. They needed a system to pull that information into Jira, which core team members used for planning.
What are the best approaches for integrating Jira Work with GitHub Issues?
The company tried several approaches before finding the right solution.
Firstly, they looked at what was already available in Jira. It has some native integration features, but while those work for simple integrations, they wanted something more customizable.
Then they investigated creating their own solution. GitHub and Jira both have APIs that let you move data in and out, so a hand-coded integration seemed tempting. However, the team realized that it would be too slow and expensive.
After that, they looked at third-party solutions and found us at Exalate. We showed them how Exalate could handle the customizations needed for the varied GitHub setups and pull in the required data in the right formats.
What features matter in a Jira GitHub integration tool?
Data integrity was important. As an open-source company, they didn’t need to protect information, since all the code and discussion were public; however, they still needed to ensure not everyone could change the data.
Controlling what was shared and how it was mapped was also essential. Exalate let them map fields freely between systems, so they could include or exclude fields in the sync, depending on the situation.
We also prioritized two-way synchronization, so synced data could be updated at both ends. This ensured Jira and GitHub stayed up to date, and users knew what other teams were doing.
What was achieved with the right Jira GitHub Issue integration tool?
After reviewing their use case and helping them implement it, Exalate let their team manage issues from all 50 GitHub repositories in one place. It also lets them map issues between platforms on a property-by-property basis.
The company now has full control over all its GitHub repos and can sync them with its Jira instances efficiently and cost-effectively. The integration makes a wealth of information available to the public.
If you’re trying to figure out the best way to integrate Jira with GitHub, book a free call with me to learn more.
