Changes to transition screen comment behaviour in Jira Service Management

[#1]

Hello Community! 

This is Jehan from Jira Service Management.

We recently changed the default behavior of transition screens, where comments now default to “Internal note” rather than “Reply to the customer.”

Why did we make this change?

There were several reasons for this change:

1. Users accidentally making customer comments: Prior to implementing this change, we heard complaints from customers that they were accidentally making external comments to end users when the comments were intended for their team only because they weren’t aware they were the comments were external by default.

2. Matching behavior to issue view comments: The issue view defaults comments to “Internal note,” and we want the experience to be consistent with reducing confusion.

We spoke to our users, and the feedback was clear: most customers prefer these comments to be internal only by default. This reduces the chance of an agent accidentally sending internal notes to end users.

We rolled out the change slowly and received feedback from many customers who weren’t expecting the change. They were, understandably, unhappy that this change had gone through without any prior warning. We also found that many customers wanted to be able to specify whether the comments defaulted to internal or external.

This feedback is very understandable. We heard about agents leaving customer comments that were accidentally set as internal given that this was the default. These comments would not reach the end users, leading to frustration.

We absolutely accept that we should have rolled this change out with more care. Our goal with this change was to improve consistency and reduce confusion around internal vs. external customers. However, we failed to properly communicate the reasons behind it and give you advanced notice. This was wrong of us, and we’re sorry for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused.

But what are we doing to solve the problem at hand?

Effective immediately, we are creating a temporary feature that enables us to change the default comment back to “Reply to customer” for all transition screens across your Jira Service Management instance. We will keep this in place for the next 3 months while we assess a more permanent solution.

In the meantime, if you would like us to enable this for your instance, please click here to leave a ticket, and we will revert the behaviour within the next week. Your feedback and partnership are essential as we work to resolve this issue.

Going forward, we commit to providing ample advance notice and clear communication before making any changes that could impact your workflows and customer experience. Transparency and putting your needs first are our top priorities.

Again, we sincerely apologies for the poor rollout and are here to make this right. We are ready to act on any raised ticket and resolve any disruption this may have caused.

Best regards,

Jehan Gonsalkorale

Principal Product Manager, Jira Service Management

[Ian Barrow]

Thanks for the post Jehan. Appreciate your understanding.

Ian

[Tyler Schmidt]

I appreciate the willingness to acknowledge the mistake, but what I can’t understand is why this can’t be permanently resolved. When we close a ticket, we send the customer vital information regarding their issue. Yet, time and time again, the system defaults to an internal reply, leaving the customer with no response and creating unnecessary confusion.

It is completely reasonable to expect an option to change the default reply setting. Our team has consistently used one method to communicate with customers, and this unexpected, unnecessary change is actively making things worse. It’s frustrating to see a process that worked well be disrupted without a clear benefit. This needs to be addressed permanently.

[Ted Hewitt]

"Derp derp derp, {EXPLAIN THE S* SHOW WE JUST FORCED ON EVERYONE} {JUSTIFY WHY WE DID X} {INSERT WE CARE STATEMENTS} {SOMETHING SOMETHING FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT} {SORRY STATEMENT FOR SOME RANDOM TECHNICAL OVERSIGHT} {DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR ANYTHING ELSE} {ENSURE THEM WE ARE WORKING ON A SOLUTION} {BE SURE THAT THE SOLUTION YOU DISCUSS IS NOT WHAT THEY ACTUALLY WANT} {PROVIDE MEANS FOR SUBMITTING OTHER GREAT IDEAS THEY MIGHT HAVE BY POINTING TO TICKET SYSTEM} {COMPLIMENT THEM AGAIN} {APOLOGIZE ONE FINAL TIME FOR THE TECHNICAL OR OVERSIGHT ISSUE}"

Jehan, you nailed this post!

No, not really...

"We absolutely accept that we should have rolled this change out with more care. Our goal with this change was to improve consistency and reduce confusion around internal vs. external customers. However, we failed to properly communicate the reasons behind it and give you advanced notice. This was wrong of us, and we’re sorry for the frustration and inconvenience it has caused."

WHAT!?!?!

There is so much wrong with your company's through process if what you just said here makes sense, and that you think this is comforting. You didn't communicate well enough, the reasons why we want this? You didn't think that a detailed explanation of the two roles (internal vs external) would have helped? or that this is a simple concept that if your using Jira and cannot grasp this, then you shouldn't even be on a computer.. jokes. I think what you really should mean here is that "We are sorry we did not ask first, and then provide an update that grants all of our users the power to manager their teams the way that works best for them". 

[James Nelson]

You "failed to properly communicate the reasons" behind the unwanted change.  So in this post you do that better?  I don't see it.  You say you have "several reasons" for the change but you list only one that makes any sense.  Atlassian needs a dislike button.

Your solution, after a huge blowback, is to temporarily fix the issue and require customers to create a ticket if they want help?? You already created a temp fix with the whole 8 week thing that is displayed after you make the change on a per agent level. 

What's the real reason for the baby steps, support ticket, wasted development time, and reassessment?

Again, how do we get in the "Valued" column in your customer database?

Are you aware that your behavior is contributing to your customers' perception of the Atlassian culture?  

[Brendon]

3 Months?   This issue has existed for 5 (7) months already and has negatively impacted organizations across this platform?   This does not seem very Agile in the face of all the responses we've seen.   I'm appreciative of the acknowledgement of the issue (step 1), but this provides no reassurance that we are going to get a satisfactory resolution within any reasonable timeframe.

For all the capabilities to design workflows, and customize the platform to OUR business needs, this feels like a complete 180 to force users to align to YOUR business needs.    For all the time that could be spent on more important new features, this feels like such a nothing-burger that could be fixed in an afternoon with any of the previously proposed ideas that would allow admins to customize the workflow as their organization requires.  ANOTHER 3 month delay just serves to kick the can down the road and provide continued uncertainty with how we as the customers will be expected to use the platform going forward.

This issue's temporary work around was discovered over a month ago in this thread here by engaged users:

(Unable to Post Link)

In December a response was provided to this thread which was created in September, and we were told we'd get a response in January but saw nothing until today.  Now we're being told it will be at LEAST MAY?   Add another month just in case of Delay. 

How in the world does it take 9 months to get a resolution on this?

But it gets better:
This interest topic was opened in JULY 2024
(Unable to Post Link)

So I'll rephrase my previous question:
How in the world does it take 11 months to get a resolution on this?

[Joe]

I don't believe "most customers prefer these comments to be internal only by default".  Where is the discussion or poll that would support that statement?  90% or more of our comments are meat for the person that submitted the ticket, and it was pretty easy to remember to toggle over to internal note when needed.

Please change the default behavior back or at least give customers the ability to choose their own default.

[Ted Hewitt]

Sorry there Joe, you are late to the party. There is another topic here where @Jehan Gonsalkorale told us that they already did this with their "preferred customers" and if you were not in that meeting.. then I hate to be the one that breaks this to you, but you are not preferred, and they simply don't care.

[James Rickards _Spark-Nel_]

Looking through this, Atlassian (and @Jehan Gonsalkorale  ) are in a damned if they do, and damned if they don't situation.

We are all asking for the wrong solution to this problem.  The issue is that asking for any default for internal or external comments is short sighted. People will have developed a muscle memory to do it one way or the other, and any change to the default (either way) will screw this this muscle memory, and there will be upset users.
 

The only change that I can see where Atlassian does not end up with egg on their face is the ability to add both internal and external comments at the same time. Display both fields at once, and highlight the internal one with the same yellow as shown when viewing comments, so it is intuitive about what is public and what is internal.  Nobody's muscle memory will be screwed with.  I doubt they will do this any time soon, as it would mess with automations, workflows and a bunch of other code that assumes only one comment during a transition.

As Henry Ford once said, "If I had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said stronger horses".   In this case the majority of the people asked for stronger horses (i.e. default to internal/external) and that is what Atlassian delivered.  Hopefully Atlassian can apply a little more creativity and UX testing in building what we actually need.