How do you look for information about Altassian products and 3rd party apps?

Zhenya Elfimova _Actonic_

Hey guys,

It is a bit trouble for me. I sometimes do not understand where to search for information about Jira and how can I determine if a third-party add-on is required for my specific use case?

How do you usually proceed? Do you search information in Google, or do you check Community first? Do you ask AI in some cases?

Thank you in advance!

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Zhenya Elfimova _Actonic_ 

For me the first (and most important) step is always to understand why you need something and what problem you’re solving. Otherwise you end up shopping for apps before you even know if Jira can already do it.

My usual approach looks like this:

Define the use case clearly
What’s the trigger, what’s the expected outcome, who are the users, and what’s the “must have” vs “nice to have”. Half of the time, once you write that down, the solution becomes obvious.

Check if it’s native first (Jira/JSM/Confluence)
I look for a built-in feature that gets me 80–90% there: automation, workflows, forms, assets, permissions, custom fields, issue layouts, etc. Native is always easier to maintain and upgrade.

Community next (real-life patterns)
Docs tell you what’s possible, Community tells you what actually works at scale. I search for the exact symptom / limitation and look for answers from people who’ve already hit the wall.

You have great and helpfull Community here

Then Marketplace
If it’s clearly not doable natively (or would be a fragile workaround), then I look for apps and I’m picky: support quality, update frequency, roadmap, permissions model, data residency, and whether we’re creating lock-in.

AI fits in as an accelerator, not the source of truth
I’ll use AI to summarize options or draft a design, but I still validate against docs and real examples especially for anything that touches security, permissions, or automations.

Best Practice:
If the requirement is simple and common = native first.
If it’s complex logic / UI extensions / heavy reporting = app might make sense.
But only after the “why and what” are clear.