Jira Work Management: How to improve project management?

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Jira is getting closer to everyone. When people say it’s a project management tool for developers, it’s only a part of the truth. In fact, any team can use it: from the HR department to sales. The Jira environment is improving continuously, and thanks to Jira Work Management, teamwork can step up to a new level. 

What is Jira Work Management?

Jira Work Management (JWM) is a user-friendly and simple way for business teams to leverage Jira's full potential. They can operate projects, manage approval procedures, or deal with recurring and everyday activities. 

It empowers technical and non-software teams to work together in one place. How does it work? For example, your support team collects customers’ requests via Jira Service Management; marketers and designers collaborate in Jira Work Management to create required content and move work forward to developers using Jira Software.

Some of the key features of Jira Work Management is customizable templates that teams can use to manage their projects and tasks. Those templates are versatile and scalable, enabling teams to modify them to meet their unique requirements. They can be used for a variety of tasks, such as project management, marketing campaigns, HR processes, finance operations, design, etc. To find templates go for Projects ➡️ Create project.

 

How to empower your business processes in JWM?

When you find a template suitable for your work, it will be equipped with a board to track your progress from “to do” to “done”; a calendar to remember your deadlines; a timeline to plan and see your work in big picture; and list view with inline editing.

If you want to customize your tasks, for instance, add some fields, go for Configuring issues. You need to have admin rights.

The next option to empower your work processes is to find a suitable plugin. Here we’ll overview Business Process Manager (BPM) and how it works together with Jira Work Management. 

Let’s take some process as an example. Imagine you migrate your project from Jira Server to Jira Cloud. You need to get ready and create tasks for each step.

1. Create a migration plan.
2. Attach all important supporting documents.
3. Add subtasks for checking your Jira Server version, accesses and permissions, timezone, backing up your data, testing migration, etc. Select a person who should complete the tasks.
4. Move the issue to In progress as soon as work begins.
5. Complete all the subtasks.
6. Move the issue to Done.

In fact, it can be any other process actual for your company. How to simplify it? Try to set it up with the Business Process Manager, so you can arrange a no-code automated workflow with issues creation, assigning and approving. Here, any complex process can be broken down into smaller steps with special forms for each activity.

There are some key actions to help you with the process:

• Provide images and documents that will aid the assignee in completing the task.

BPM allows you to create form using different elements and content blocks: text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, attachments, URLs, etc. Moreover, you can set rules and conditions to change the logic based on the desirable output. For instance, show/hide specific fields when you need: “When job position is project manager, then show the following fields:...”

• Make sure the detailed actions are accomplished
  After you create all tasks, you surely want to know if they are completed or follow their current stage. BPM provides you with a report where you can monitor every step and get real-time insights.
  

• Set schedules and due dates

Scheduling means that BPM will automatically create tasks for the specified assignees in a specific time. Also, you can set specific or dynamic due dates to ensure every step of your working process is completed.

• Set priorities and order for task creation.

Avoid missing essential steps of your process – add a blocker. Therefore, a process cannot continue at a specific point if the key task is not completed. It helps to do tasks in the right sequence. No issue will be created unless the previous ones are not finished.

• Make approvals for required actions

If you need to approve specific activity before moving it further, try adding the Approver step for a single individual or multiple persons. The form will be automatically transferred to the supervisor with Approve/Reject options.

Try to combine Jira Work Management templates + Business Process Manager and find your unique way to improve project management in Jira.