Limited and isolated?

[Jimi Wikman]

While I like the features, it feels very much like an MVP that is both limited and isolated from other tools?

It is nice to have the three levels of the organization in a very slimmed down version, but I feel that without any connection to the other tools it will have a limited usage?

If you take goals for example, which seem to be strategic goals, they have no connection to the work that is then being done, so how are we supposed to connect work to goals?

The next level is Projects and here you are limited to Projects: Programs are not supported it seems, and you also have no options for line work or maintenance? These hold no information that you commonly associate with projects like finance or timelines, but they are just displaying glance type of information? There is also no possibility to plan, which makes this sort of what I would expect on an intranet? I also have no connection between projects or the work included in the project?

Teams is the least useful as of right now I think because it has no information on resource management level. It is just team information and then individual information that again is something I expect on an intranet, but which have very little usage on a management or strategic level.

The reason I write this is that I wonder what need Atlas is aimed to solve? It is not a strategic tool because it lacks any form of planning and without connection to the work it does not fit as an operational tool. Is it an information platform that aim to replace Confluence or a very specific section of an Intranet?

Or is it a bit lackluster because it is still an MVP and you plan to move it into either the strategic or operative direction later on?

[Frederick Ros · Accepted solution]

Well, I think this question has already been answered and relates to the purpose of the tool... If you're going back to its roots (and Project Central as advertised by Dom Price during the 2015 Summit, if I'm not mistaken), Atlas is mainly a *communication* tool, broadcasting to a whole organization the project's progress (e.g.,, not be mixed with informing *project's team* on the evolution of the project), which explain the opinionated 280 chars limit but also the fact it works somehow independently of other tools (although you can use the Smart Links to share Confluence pages, etc..).

I find it quite exciting and practical to share the progress of projects within my organization. Everyone can have a direct view (e.g., not a filtered view from management, for example) of progress and subscribe to only the project they're interested in.

Granted, some integration with OKRs (and eventually external 3rd party OKRs tooling) would be great, but AFAIR I think it's somehow on the roadmap of Atlas.

Same for the "team's status" for teams not managing projects ...

At its core, it's implementing The Loop communication system.

[Paul Stallworth]

This is spot on.  Atlas (nee Team Central nee Project Central) started as a "project of projects" plus some Node.js to email watchers in order to reduce/eliminate the Friday 5PM project manager email blast where there would be 100 people getting project updates and they only cared about 2 of them.  Having 500 projects running across the company, the need was (as an executive-type) to find a way to get information about the projects I care about and avoid all the additional noise.

The defined statuses also reinforce that the purpose is to streamline/reduce the noise on status updates and make it easier for higher-level sponsors/stakeholders to know whether they need to get involved: On Track - don't even need to look, At Risk - maybe make a mental note to check in, Off Track - this one requires a response.

It's not for resource management, or line work management.  That's what Jira Software + Advanced Roadmaps should be doing, unless you're really big and need something like Jira Align.

[Jimi Wikman]

@Frederick Rosthank you, my memory does not take me back that far unfortunately, so it is much appreciated that you remind me :)

So it is a broadcast tool for those that do not already have an Intranet. Got it. Too bad, as I hoped for a tool that could actually make teams useful in Jira somehow. Perhaps next tool will be that :)

@Paul Stallworthat the moment, there are no tools that actually do resource management. Advanced Roadmaps removed any hope of that in the July update last year when they removed the only individual resource management that existed.

You can hack BigPicture to simulate it, kind of, but to my knowledge there is no tool for resource planning in the Atlassian ecosystem. You can do very rough team estimations, but only if there are already tasks created with estimates.

I guess I'll keep looking for a portfolio tool that work in both the operative and the strategic sphere. Probably not going to find it in the Atlassian ecosystem unfortunately, but who knows :)

[Paul Stallworth]

Are there existing tools that provide the resource management and resource planning that you're looking for with your use case?  I'm curious as I work with just a few traditional scrum and kanban teams.

[Nataliya Vasyliv_Reliex_]

Hi @Jimi Wikman 

ActivityTimeline plugin provides resource planning and availability on a timeline view. Capacity planning is available for individuals and teams. Individual work schemes are available as well. 

Projects, milestones, backlog, teams, and users are visible in a one timeline dashboard.

The additional modules provide individual work pages and numerous reports including timesheets reports. 

If our solution fits your request or you have any additional requirements please feel free to ask me. We can provide a demo session for you if needed.
Best, Nataliya, ActivityTimeline Team

[Jimi Wikman]

Hi @Nataliya Vasyliv_Reliex_ , ActivityTimeline is indeed a nice add-on, but just like Tempo it only has one dimension and it lacks the project planning features. It also depends on activities in Jira and that they have proper estimates and a 100% coverage, which is never true before a project starts and almost never true during the project.

After the summer when I hopefully have had time to build the Atlassian Add-on section on my website I will reach out to you to see if I can get a more in depth demo from you since it is a very nice add-on that I would like to cover more on my website.

This way I can also write about it in my Jira Cloud Playbook :)
https://jimiwikman.se/atlassian/jira-cloud-playbook/

[Nataliya Vasyliv_Reliex_]

@Jimi Wikman 

I agree, that for better work and planning we need to make more efforts and need more estimation. For planning, without estimation, there are bookings and placeholders. It could be a pretty good solution. 

We are constantly improving our plugins and possibly our new versions will be able to solve your request.

I would be glad to hear from you after the summer :) 

Best, Nataliya