Why would I use Jira without support for the basic Epic -> Feature -> Story -> Task hierarchy

[Keith Thomas]

I am expected to recommend best practices for many software groups. When I look at Jira versus ADO as the ALM tool of choice I am blocked (in my own mind) from recommending Jira due to the lack of built in support for basic work breakdown hierarchies like,  

• Epic -> Feature -> Story -> Task

When I'm asked to help an agile group I'm instantly suspicious of their agile discipline if they are using Jira. Even if they have a work around for the above hierarchy deficiency the Jira boards seem to encourage a waterfall approach to development with their generic Kanban boards instead of the very specific Scrum board form of Kanban board. Also, who with any level of discipline & transparency would use a tool that keeps referring to feature based work items as "Issues"?

I access both hosted and cloud based Jira, which is a concept that even this forum does not support.

Yet as Jira is wildly popular I feel I'm missing something, something good about Jira. What am I missing?

[John Funk]

Hi Keith - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Seems like you have already made up your mind without actually using it. Maybe you should give it a try to duplicate the things you do in your other tools and see where the deficiencies are. 

Yes, you can do the hierarchy structure you identify above. We are using that same hierarchy with several clients. 

The tool has been around for more than 20 years and has more than 250,000 customers. But it began as a bug tracking tool, more or less. That's the reason for the issues named used throughout the system. Is it the perfect name? No. But the name doesn't cause things to work or not. 

There's plenty of things to pick a part about the tool. Which can be said about all tools. It's probably "wildly popular" because it is very customizable, integrates with other tools, has an excellent automation tool ...  But if you have already found one better - stick with it. 

[Keith Thomas]

"Yes, you can do the hierarchy structure you identify above. We are using that same hierarchy with several clients."

- Awesome that's the sort of feedback I was after. It is hard to find concrete guidance as so many postings on here questioning the same flaw. What is the best source of guidance?

[John Funk]

Happy to help!

For now, the best guidance is probably right here in the Community. LOTS of experience and knowledge across the gamut of Atlassian products. 

I am hopeful that one day soon you will be jumping in here, answering questions like the rest of us. :-)