4 Project Management apps for Jira that you need to try

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As a Project Manager you’re faced with many different challenges every single day. Making plans, assigning tasks, monitoring progress, creating schedules – these are just a few of your responsibilities. It takes a lot of energy and focus to have it all well in hand. Luckily, there are tools designed to help you on every step of your journey. Follow us through one imaginary day of your work, and discover Project Management apps designed to assist you in your daily tasks.

Modify your plans seamlessly 

 

Imagine your typical morning at work. You greet a few people, maybe grab some coffee or some snacks, head to your desk, open your laptop, and with that, your workday begins.

The first thing you do is check your email and other streams of communication. You wouldn’t want to miss any important news. Your attention goes straight to the message from one of your team members. They’re sick and won’t be able to show up at work for the rest of the week. It's worrying news, since it will surely affect the project. You need to react quickly and rearrange the plan to minimize the delay.

You open your Team Planner – Resource Planning for Jira app to monitor how the absence of this particular team member will affect the project and its timeline. Since the plan is displayed in the form of a schedule, with issues assigned to specific users and spread across estimated dates of completion, it is clearly visible what tasks your absent colleague had planned for this week, and how much time they were supposed to take.

Your goal now is to determine how urgent these tasks are, and if they can be postponed to the next week. It turns out that some of them are rather minor and can be completed later, without affecting the work of the rest of the team. You drag these tasks and drop them on the next week’s schedule.

Having done that, you can now focus on more urgent and strategically essential tasks. You go through their details to gain a better understanding of the current status of work. Thanks to the Multiple Checklists app you can distinctly see what elements each task consists of, and which ones have already been completed. Having this information gathered in one place, it is easier to distribute the tasks among other team members.

You go back to the Team Planner app to check if there is anyone who could take over the tasks previously assigned to the absent person. You can clearly see what tasks other team members are planned to be working on this week. After examining the priorities and complexities of these tasks, you decide to move some of them on the schedule to be completed later. You contact the person capable of taking over the tasks of their absent colleague and discuss the changes in plan with them and with the rest of the team. 

Everyone can transparently see on the schedule in Team Planner which tasks were moved and which were reassigned. It makes your job easier – you don’t need to worry that someone misunderstands or overlooks the new changes. As long as everyone keeps their eyes on the schedule, they will know what to do and when.

Keep up with the progress

 

Now that the plan has changed, the person reassigned to complete the tasks of their absent team member needs to quickly catch up on their current status. With the help of the Multiple Checklists for Jira app they can easily gain the essential information and smoothly continue the work, since all of the objectives are listed within Jira issues.

Completion of each checklist is displayed in the form of a progress bar. It’s a visual representation of the current status that helps to realize how much work has been completed so far. With just a quick glance, the user will know from where they need to pick up the work. 

If necessary, additional checklists can be added, either created from scratch or imported from the previously saved templates. The user can also edit the existing checklists, rearrange the order of items, change their names, delete the ones that are no longer relevant, etc. As the need arises, checklist items can be quickly converted into sub-tasks.

And so, the work smoothly continues, despite the sudden absence of one of the team members. This small crisis required a lot of energy and strategic thinking, but you’ve managed to deal with it brilliantly!

Have a well-deserved lunch break

After the turbulent morning full of unexpected challenges, it is finally time to have a moment of rest during the lunch break. You grab a cup of coffee and something to eat, and decide to play a round of chess in Jira with one of your team members.

It’s a fun activity that utilizes your work tools in a creative way. Transform your Team Planner into a chessboard and organize a friendly competition to spend some time with your team. Not only will it brighten up the mood, but also increase your team’s experience with the tool that they are using every single day at work. The more familiar you are with the tool, the more you can achieve with it, putting its features to the best possible use.

You’re now more relaxed and in high spirits. It’s time to get back to work with a dose of new energy and motivation.

Stay on track with testing

 

You dedicate your afternoon hours to monitoring and analyzing test reports. For that purpose, you use the QAlity Plus – Test Management for Jira app. It allows developers and testers to collaborate more efficiently, since test cases can be accessed and created within the Jira issue. 

From your perspective, it is particularly useful in generating reports. Having all information on tests gathered in one place allows you to make more reasonable decisions, based on the situation at hand. Additionally, it provides a transparent view of tests’ coverage and performance, as well as the details on failed tests.

This time, you go through the latest test cycle. While examining the details, you assess the condition of the system. Traceability Reports help you notice which areas of the system have more bugs and need to be handled with increased attention. It also allows you to analyze test coverage in your project, and determine whether some of the requirements still require more test cases.

Based on the data provided by QAlity Plus, you can adjust your plans and strategies. It gives you the assurance that your project is heading in the right direction, and that no issue will go unnoticed. It also allows you to coordinate the work of both developers and testers more efficiently.

Close your workday with a clear mind

 

As your day at work is coming to an end, it is now time to sum up today’s work. You open the Worklogs for Jira – Time Tracking and Reports app and log the time you’ve spent on particular tasks. Here, you can also check how your team members distributed their working hours, and what took them the most time. 

You can analyze Worklog reports to get further insights into the team’s efficiency, and to notice any problems or bottlenecks that can be avoided. Various filtering options allow you to create custom reports that are adjusted to your specific needs.

As for now, you simply acknowledge the fact that everyone, including you, worked hard today. 

It’s been a long day full of challenges, but with the help of your and your colleagues’ experience and dedication, nothing seems too hard to handle. And with the assistance of various Project Management apps that you’re using throughout the day, you become almost invincible!