What did you do before Align?

[Arden_Hawley]

I'm curious what other folks use(d) before they onboarded Jira Align.  Portfolio? Structure? Spreadsheets?? How did you get your community to switch over? 

[Dave Rosenlund _ALM Works_]

Hi, Arden.  This is a great question. I can't wait to see the sorts of responses it generates. Thanks!

From my perspective, Jira Align is not a replacement for any of the products you've listed. (Note: I work for the company that makes Structure, so maybe you should accept my view with a large grain of salt.) However, my perspective is based on what I am hearing from our customers and Atlassian Solution Partners.

These folks tell me the products you've listed will very likely be used in combination with Jira Align, in a complementary fashion.  

It will be interesting to hear if others are hearing this as well — and what your contemporaries have to say.  

-dave [ALM Works]

BTW: What did you decide to do?  

[Arden_Hawley]

I agree that it's not a replacement.  And I do love my structures and they're not going away anytime soon  ;) But I know that users have been stretching tools like structure and portfolio to their limits trying to do enterprise level planning. 

Generally our users use create their structure, export from their structures to perform excel black magic, before reuploading to Jira.  Portfolio is generally used for reporting after planning is done.

Edit to add: We use portfolio, structure, and are piloting Align.