Why even though I am a Systems Admin AND JIRA Admin, I still don't have access?

[JanaW]

I am a Systems Admin and JIRA Admin and still have to add myself to each teams permission scheme to be able to update issues. Why is that or how can I change that? It is sooo frustrating. One would think that if you have super powers like System Admin, then I should be able to make any changes to whatever I want.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

There's two answers here.

1.  On Cloud, you do NOT get system administration.  That is limited to Atlassian admins
2. "Admin can do everything" is a an absolutely dreadful idea and thankfully, one that Atlassian does not subscribe to.  Permissions should be granular - as a system admin you should be able to administrate.  Not do everything by default.  

As a system admin, I really have no interest in the 1,500 projects in my JIRA installation, I just want to see the stuff that is actually relevant to my work.  Sometimes, I'm going to need to look at other projects to work out what is wrong or what needs changing, so while I do that, I'll give myself access to their stuff, then remove myself when I realise they're boring me to death with stuff I really have no interest in.

If you're having to amend permission schemes though, you've got it wrong.  All you should be doing is adding yourself to the right role(s).

[Joe Pitt]

I concur with Nic. People should have only the permissions needed to do their job. Do you really need access to all the projects or are other people pushing their work off on you because 'you're the JIRA guy'?