Updates to jira.atlassian.com give you visibility into what's coming in Jira Server and Data Center

[#1]

Hello, Community!

My name is Gosia and I'm a Product Manager on Jira Server and Data Center here at Atlassian. Since 2002 when we launched our public issue tracker, jira.atlassian.com, hundreds of thousands of you have voted, watched, and commented on issues that matter to you. This feedback is a vital ingredient in our product development process and is key to maintaining a customer-centric focus as we build our products. Just as you have invested your time and energy into giving us feedback on jira.atlassian.com, we are investing heavily in this platform so it can do more for you, the supporters and champions of our tools.

Last year, we introduced updated workflows to keep you better informed on bug fixes and suggestions that we're working on. Today, we are introducing two new dashboards that make it even easier for you to see what bug fixes and feature suggestions we are working on so you can better manage your instance and plan upgrades. We've also redesigned the main dashboard and made other interface improvements so that you can locate issues you care about quickly and easily. 

Two new dashboards give you visibility into jira.atlassian.com issues that we're building and have recently shipped

1.The Jira Server and Data Center: recently resolved issues dashboard displays which bugs and feature suggestions have been resolved within the last 6 months as well as which version of Jira they were shipped in.

The dashboard includes:

• Jira Software, Jira Core, and Jira Service Desk bugs and features suggestions resolved within the last 6 months

• Issues resolved in the last 6 months that you watched or voted for

• Issues resolved between the latest Enterprise Releases (for example, between Jira 7.6 and 7.13)
• Jira Data Center specific bugs and feature suggestions resolved in the last 6 months 

As of today, we've tackled over 125 bug fixes and shipped 49 feature suggestions listed on jira.atlassian.com for Jira Server and Data Center in the last 6 months. Those resolved issues satisfy more than 4,422 of your votes.  We don't intend to stop here; we will continue this momentum to maintain a best-in-class software offering to power your work forward. 

2.The Jira Server and Data Center: current work and future plans dashboard aggregates which bug fixes and feature suggestions we are currently working on in order to help you plan future upgrades and prepare your instance for what's coming next. Keep in mind, this dashboard showcases a subset of bug fixes and features that are listed on jira.atlassian.com - some features and bug fixes we ship are not listed in our public issue tracker. 

The dashboard includes:

• Jira Software, Jira Core, and Jira Service Desk bugs and features suggestions that the Jira team is working on
• Issues that have been prioritized for development that you watched or voted for
• Which version the fix will be shipped in (platform releases only)

The issues are categorized into three groups based on their workflow status:

1. Short term backlog (bug fixes) or Under consideration (feature suggestions): A fix for this issue is required, and will be prioritized in the near future. 
2. In progress: The development team is currently working on resolving this issue.
3. Waiting for release: The fix has been implemented in an unreleased version of the product and is waiting to be shipped in a release.

Check out our Server Bug Fix Policy for more details on Atlassian's bug fix workflow, how bugs are categorized, and how we target releases for bug fixes.

Curious about how feature suggestions are prioritized? Check out this blog from our former Head of Product. 

Now, you might be wondering, "If my issue or feature isn't listed in this dashboard, does that mean there is no chance it will be built?" Not at all. This dashboard shows a portion of our work, but not all of it. Even if a feature suggestion or bug is not listed on this dashboard, it doesn't mean it's not being worked on.  It may be going through the triage process or moved to our long term backlog for future consideration. 

So, how does Atlassian prioritize bug fixes?

We take into account several factors when deciding which bugs we'll tackle first:

• User Impact Score (UIS): This calculation incorporates engagement on jira.atlassian.com (including vote velocity, watches, and comments), the number of active users impacted, and the severity of the bug. This formula ensures that issues generating recent attention and interest are prioritized over those that have not. 
• Number of support tickets
• Impact to admins vs user functionality

While we use the UIS to guide us, we also rely heavily on internal discussions to ensure we are prioritizing bug fixes in a way that best benefits our customers.

jira.atlassian.com got a makeover, both inside and out

Our public issue tracker is nearly 20 years old. Over its lifetime, we've made gradual updates to keep up with our customers' needs. But, we want this platform to be more than just functional. So, we've invested significant resources in jira.atlassian.com to level-up this platform, making it more modern, user-friendly, and accountable to our customers.

Here are a few of the top improvements we made:

• A shiny new System Dashboard links to known bugs and feature suggestions by product, so you can easily locate issues that matter to you. We've also included an overview for new users of jira.atlassian.com and relevant resources, like our bug fix policy.  Check it out now and let us know what you think in the comments below.  

• Improved communication on jira.atlassian.com. In the past, some issues went too long without an update, which is not something we are proud of.  So, as part of this initiative, we have done the following to right this wrong:
  
  • Implemented internal processes that streamline the update process and remind Atlassian stakeholders to update issues in a timely manner. 
  • Dedicated support engineering resources to finding workarounds to painful bugs if they currently do not exist. If no workarounds are found, we explicitly state it on the ticket, so we don't leave you in the dark. 

My ask for you

1. Explore and bookmark the new jira.atlassian.com: Check out the new dashboards (here and here) and vote or watch issues that matter to you. 
2. Share your thoughts: We'd like to know more about how these updates impact your work.

Please let us know in the comments below: 

Which of these updates is most helpful for you?

What else would you like to see in the future? 

We are not done investing in jira.atlassian.com, and we'd like to know more about how these updates impact your work as well as what you want to see next. Your feedback and support is a vital ingredient in our development and success, so thank you for continuing to share your thoughts and product aspirations with us. 

[Matt Doar]

Thanks for the post. The dashboards are helpful, and I'm glad to hear Atlassian is going to be more regularly involved in the j.a.c issues

[Rafael Corredor]

Thank you very much for this post.

Finally I have found what UIS means!!! (User Impact Score (UIS))

I was assumed it was a guide to have an aprox of how soon/far an issue is resolved but my doubt was... Must the number be high or low to be considered to be included in a next release?

I have checked some solved issues and I cannot take any conclusion:

1. JRASERVER-17783 -> UIS:3,395
2. JRASERVER-62414 -> UIS:259
3. JRASERVER-25640 -> UIS:828
4. JSWSERVER-12854 -> UIS:44

I would expect UIS to be as low as possible as 'queue number' so 1 is the next one for sure to be solved.  In case it is the opposite and finding this high UIS variability, from which threshold is necessary to assume it is going to be considered?

I have also checked Current work dashboard (https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/Dashboard.jspa?selectPageId=85890) and I see, in general, high UIS numbers which confirm my suspect but variability is high too.

In any case, any initiative to show current work and expectations must be always welcome.

Thank you

[Gosia Kowalska]

Hi @Rafael Corredor

Thank you very much for your comment. I am happy to hear that you find our new dashboards valuable.

Regarding your question about UIS - the higher the UIS, the bigger the impact, so if we only considered UIS, issue no 1 from your list takes priority over issue no 4.

However, User Impact Score is not the only aspect we take into consideration when prioritizing issues. This is why you can see both high and lower UIS issues on our dashboards. Some issues are part of a broader story and might not have high UIS when looked at in separation but contribute to solving a larger customer pain. On the other hand, some issues might have mid-level UIS but are trending (i.e. UIS is growing rapidly) - these issues are also on our radar as we try to address them before they reach high UIS levels.

For these reasons there is no simple threshold that decides if an issue is considered or not. We take multiple aspects into consideration when prioritizing issues on our roadmap. You can read more about it in this post and this article about our approach to highly voted Server suggestions.

Also please keep in mind, that our new dashboards showcase a subset of bug fixes and features that are listed on jira.atlassian.com - some features and bug fixes we ship are not listed in our public issue tracker. 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you,

Gosia

[Gonchik Tsymzhitov]

Thank you for you post. 

That public issue tracker my main place to double check improvement status or find some workaround in comments! 

[P_D_ Foerster]

Thank you for these JAC improvements!

I am especially glad that you will answer and update issues more regularly. That was quite a pain point for me and sometimes the reason for creating a support request instead of asking on the corresponding JAC issue.

The new dashboards are great :) I would like to see them for Confluence, too!

I also have question regarding the UIS. You say

the number of active users impacted

does that mean you take into account the license tier thus all potential affected users of that company?

[Gosia Kowalska]

Hi @P_D_ Foerster

I am happy you find our new dashboards helpful. And I will forward your comment to the Confluence team :)

Regarding UIS, yes we are looking at the licence tiers. This is why UIS is sometimes high for issues with relatively small number of votes.

Thank you

Gosia

[吕瑞雪]

在项目管理中是否有roadmap管理的计划，在官方介绍中看到了，但是jira server 8的版本中没有看到。