Progressive Delivery capabilities in Jira Software

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Jira Software’s new Releases Hub enables organizations to implement Progressive Delivery practices so software teams can release with speed and control. Read on to learn how the new Progressive Delivery capabilities and in-built Go/No-Go team ritual can bring new efficiencies into your DevOps program.

Got questions or need help? Comment below!

What is Progressive Delivery?

In today’s digital world, software delivery speed is key to gaining competitive advantage. Companies of all sizes and industries are implementing Agile and DevOps to deliver new value to customers quickly and frequently. However, the idea of deploying (unfinished) code multiple times a day is unsettling to most businesses. How can organizations ship code continuously and quickly, while protecting customers from in-field issues?

That’s where Progressive Delivery comes into play. Progressive Delivery is a modern software delivery practice whereby new features are incrementally rolled out to mitigate service disruptions. When a feature is ready for delivery, software teams first release to small, risk tolerant users. The team monitors feature reception and performance to determine readiness for the next rollout phase. Next, features are exposed to increasingly larger, risk intolerant users. This procedure continue until the feature is safely delivered to all customers.

Phased rollouts are made possible using feature flagging technologies. Feature flags allow development to enable or disable a feature during runtime without modifying source code or redeploying. In DevOps workflows, feature flags are often used in production, to switch on a feature on-demand or only release to some users. Feature flags status, along with granular visibility into how work is progressing along the SDLC, are key components in effective Progressive Delivery strategies. With Progressive Delivery, your software teams don't have to compromise: release teams get the control they need to ship confidently and development teams can work at their own pace.

Introducing Progressive Delivery capabilities in Jira Software

Open DevOps makes software development the multidisciplinary sport it’s meant to be. The latest advancements to Jira Software’s Releases Hub and our Go/No-Go ritual enables software teams – whether they’re in development, product, marketing, or support – to plan, ship, and track confidently, together.

Get end-to-end visibility on release status, all within a unified pane. Granular statuses – from build status, deployment location, feature flag rollout progress, and more – allow development teams to communicate milestone progress to product, marketing, and support counterparts with real-time accuracy and ease. Status labels allow cross-functional teams to eliminate technical jargon and communicate succinctly using a common language. Pro tip: For more information on the issue state details on the Releases Hub, read here.

Ensure release confidence with technical requirements.  Define release requirements – ranging from approvals, defined collaborators and owners, issue statues, deployment location, feature flag progress, and release notes status – to establish consistency across releases.

Stay in sync with a single source of truth. Build a shared team understanding. Attach commonly referenced assets to the Related Work section, such as analytics dashboards, blog posts, and release notes, to keep your multidisciplinary team aligned on release objectives, goals, and progress. Pro tip: Don’t forget to take advantage of our auto-generated release notes capability. Jira dynamically pulls information from all issues associated with a version to generate release notes – all with a single click.

Supercharge your team with release planning assistance. Ready to go to market, but not sure what tasks are needed to successfully release? Use the recommendations drawer for suggestions on release activities. Link issues and assign owners to the linked issues directly within the tab.

Keep teams focused on strategic work. Let Jira handle the rest.  Releases Hub now comes equipped with cross automation capabilities across your custom toolchain. Set rules for Jira to automatically create feature flags when a version is created or send a Slack notifications when a version is released.

Launch with confidence, together.  Coming soon, the Releases Hub will have Progress and Approver/Reviewer cards to help determine launch readiness. Make go/no-go decisions fast and simple with clear roles and responsibilities, defined timelines, and visual progress metrics. Are you a Go? Press the Release button, together.

Getting started

Progressive Delivery and all other Open DevOps capabilities are available to Jira Software Cloud users across all license tiers. Progressive Delivery capabilities are powered by your SCM, CI/CD, and feature flag integrations. See below for additional resources.

Learn about our feature flag integrations with Split and LaunchDarkly. Learn more	Get technical guidance on how to integrate your feature flag tools to Open DevOps. Integrate now	Bringing security vulnerabilities into the context of developer sprints with Security in Jira.  Learn more
Don't know which feature flag tool is for you? Check our our latest guide. Learn more	Decouple deployment from releases for fewer incidents, lower risk, and happier developers. Learn more	See how Atlassian and LaunchDarkly work together to accelerate feature velocity. Learn more

Questions?

If you have questions or need help, don’t hesitate to reach out. Here are just a few ways to get in touch:

• Comment on this community post. It’s likely others have similar questions, and we love receiving feedback directly from our customers.

• Customers on a paid license are welcome to reach out to our support team via https://support.atlassian.com/contact/

• For product feedback, use the “Give feedback” function within the product - this goes directly to our teams.

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Atlassian Open DevOps

Atlassian uniquely connects software teams with new ways of collaboration across projects and toolchains. Open DevOps is a platform powered by the integration of Jira Software and your team’s favorite tools. By connecting seemly disparate tools, Jira Software becomes the mission control center, giving teams the extensibility of a custom toolchain and the coordination of an all-in-one.

For more information, visit: www.atlassian.com/solutions/devops

Try Open DevOps for free at: Try for free

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[Bryan Guffey]

Is this only available in Cloud, or will this be coming to Data Center? 

[Tamulyn Takakura]

Hi @Bryan Guffey ! Great question. You're correct. Progressive Delivery and all other Open DevOps capabilities (such as Security in Jira) are cloud-only. 

[Annie Ioceva]

How can we enable Jira Software’s new Releases Hub on our cloud?

[Tamulyn Takakura]

@Annie Ioceva - Excellent question! Here's a technical document on how you can enable Releases in your version: 

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/enable-releases-and-versions/ 

I also want to share this document outlining how you can extract the most out of your Releases Hub:

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/use-the-release-page-to-check-the-progress-of-a-version/

I hope that helps!

[Annie Ioceva]

Hi @Tamulyn Takakura ,

My question was not how to access release feature but how to access the NEW release hub as shown in the video.  The features that we see in the demo, which are announced as available to all our clouds, are actually not visible on our cloud. These new features are also not present in the documentation links you provided.

When can we expect to get them? 

Cheers,

Annie

[Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist]

We're also experiencing the same. We don't see any of the NEW features showcased in the Release Hub Demo.

I've tried in several JIra Software Cloud instances with different subscription levels (standard, premium) and these new features are not showing up.

[Andrew Pankevicius]

Hey @Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist & @Annie Ioceva,

Hope I can help clarify. The features demo'd within the above video are building atop the exisiting releases hub, as long as you enable the 'releases hub' from feature settings, you're in the right spot. 

Within the releases hub today, you will find our:

1. Related work section, including the suggestions drawer to add placeholder work, attach Jira issues & assignees on your team.

2. Feature Flag rollout status against connected Jira issues, alongside Code & Deployment status.

3. Release Automations by accessing our 'lightening bolt' icon.

To get the most out of the features above, I'd recommend ensuring you have a Code management tool (like Github or Bitbucket Cloud) integrated , alongside a CICD tool and feature flagging tool. 

Note: As long as you attach a version to your Jira issue, and then link your issue with pull requests, branches, deployments & feature flags - you will be able to see all data demo'd here in your own issue table on the releases hub. 

You can learn more about issue linking to code here: 
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/integrate-with-github/ & 
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/reference-issues-in-your-development-work/

As noted in the video, only two capabilities are coming soon and are actively in development. That is, 

1. Approvers and Reviewers

2. Next gen progress tracker

Please let me know if I can help any further !

[Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist]

This screen looks very different. How do I add the "Plan Release" section to it?

[Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist]

Checking things closer... I believe my confusion is that the YouTube video screens are very different to what I see in my sites but what I see in the screenshots here are matching that. Why is the YouTube video shows different screens? How did they add the different sections?

[Claus Østergaard Pedersen]

@Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist 

I would guess it is because the feature you have highlighted, is described as "coming soon" in this article, and therefore not yet available:

 

[Rodolfo Romero - Adaptavist]

Thank you for the clarification @Claus Østergaard Pedersen !

[Ariana DeJesus]

Are there any plans to add cross-project fix versions? Our team has two projects we link one repo to and would LOVE to be able to combine them into ONE release in a third project! Without that capability we can't use this AWESOME feature!

[Tamulyn Takakura]

Hi @Ariana DeJesus! Thanks for your patience while I track down your answer! Currently we don't have plans to add cross-project versions. I have passed on your feedback for future consideration!

To coordinate release planning across multiple projects, we recommend checking out the Advance Roadmap capabilities in Jira Software: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/what-are-releases-in-advanced-roadmaps/

Hope that helps!

[yoni.degani]

@Tamulyn Takakura this is unfortunate to hear! Agree with @Ariana DeJesus that being able to add issues from other projects into a release would be monumental for our organization. At present, we need to create duplicate release versions in projects that have code releasing from the same repository.

Was really hoping to see this as part of Release Hub, especially since the screenshots in the above article (copied below for reference) seem to show issues with multiple project keys included!

Advanced Roadmaps does not solve our issue as it doesn't seem like you can "release" a Cross-project release. Can only track children releases. If there was a "Release" button available for Cross-Project Releases in Advanced Roadmaps, that might present a solution! However, the much-preferred solve would be to allow cross-project issues via this Release Hub interface :) 

Please consider!! 🙏🏼

[Tamulyn Takakura]

Hi @yoni.degani . Thanks so much for the details on how you're impacted and why our proposed recommendation doesn't work for your use case! They make all the difference when we review feedback for product decisions. I'll pass this along internally. Also tagging folks on our team to review this thread for good measure. @Andrew Pankevicius @Gareth Wham @Matt Erickson 

[Ashley Corkum]

Is there a est delivery time for this full feature to roll out? 

Looking for: 

* drop down "add" menu on release module 

* release reviewers/ progress window 

[Tamulyn Takakura]

Hi @Ashley Corkum Great questions! 

When you say "add menu on release module", do you mean the ability to add tasks in the Related Work section? If so, this is available to you today! Adding screenshot for reference

The release reviewers and progress cards will be available this summer. We are estimating June/July timeframe. I'm afraid I don't have a EST delivery time yet.

I hope that helps!

[Dave Mathijs]

This has a lot of potential, release management needs love in Jira.

[Tom Whittle]

Advanced release management with Jira and if you are using Compass is going to make Atlassian every devs one stop shop for everything from change requests through to observability and incident management.

[Danny]

I cannot wait to try out the new features. Is there a planned quarter this will be delivered in @Tamulyn Takakura

[John Funk]

Looking forward to the Launch Readiness event. 

[Dan Buta]

Hi @Tamulyn Takakura ,

This feature looks very good so far but I am struggling to integrate it into our workflow. I will enumerate a couple of reasons why.

One thing that we are trying to accomplish is to make the Release Approvers work. Currently we can assign an approver (or more) but it just seems to be flat without any way of handling that. The assigned Approver doesn't get any notification, we cannot find a way to block the release up until it's not been approved through either transition conditions within the Jira issue workflow or even some automation. I was trying to find some documentation around this new feature but this article is the closest I've gotten and there is no documentation as to how these features work and integrate into the Jira ecosystem. 

So, my questions are:

1. How can we block a release until it has been approved?

2. How can we notify the approvers?

3. How can we access the release properties (like approver, release notes, driver, release dates, etc.) from automation? It would be great to get at these properties from a release version as an entity and not having to get at them from each individual issue fixVersions property.

It would help us a lot if we can get some answers/documentation.

Good job so far!

Thank you!

--

Dan

[Roger Hughes]

Phased rollouts is something that we have started doing, but is not something we had considered for JIRA.  As soon as we transition to Cloud, then this is something that looks interesting.

[Tracy Moffat]

When will the main Progressive Delivery features in this demo become available?  We use releases and I'm not seeing the majority of these features, is there somewhere in Cloud that we need to turn something on?