Cameron's must-read Portfolio for Jira tips Part I

[#1]

This week's spotlight shines on @Cameron Eldridge who recently blew the Atlassian's team's socks off with his post sharing tips for Portfolio for Jira. (You can skip ahead to those tips in Part II of this spotlight). 

In Part I, you will learn more about Cameron, hear his advice for Portfolio newbies and discover what quality he values most in a teammate. Oh, and a bunch of cool naming alternatives for Portland, Oregon. 

Feel free to add your own tips or questions about Portfolio in the comments below. Who knows, maybe you'll get an answer from Cameron himself:

Bridget (B): Where are you based?

Cameron (C): I’m currently based in the eclectic city of Portland, Oregon a.k.a. the City of Roses, Rip City, and Beervana. 

B: What is your role at work?

C: My primary focus is agile tool administration, which includes the Atlassian suite.

B: Which Atlassian products do you use on a daily basis? What's your favorite?

C: I work daily with Jira (Data Center), Portfolio for Jira (2.10.0), Confluence (Server), Bitbucket (Data Center), and Crowd (Server). Jira, by far, is my favorite of the bunch because of its power, versatility, and integration capabilities. Jira Jr. just barely missed the cut.

B: Any words of advice to those just getting started using Portfolio?

C: From an admin perspective, install the latest version so that users have access to the newest features and fixes. Also, ensure your users have a good understanding of the issue hierarchy you’ve configured and enough supporting resources to go to when they need help. Encourage the use of shared teams so that they can be illustrated in issues and recycled in other plans. 

Users should focus on understanding the main ingredients of a plan – issue sources, releases, estimations, teams, etc. – and how they interact with one another. The biggest frustration I hear from users is that the tool is too cumbersome. My advice: watch one of Atlassian’s Portfolio webinars and start simple. There’s no need to use all of the facets of a plan right off the bat. Set yourself up with a ranked hierarchy of issues, and let Portfolio’s scheduling algorithm automagically handle the rest with default estimates or target dates. Don’t forget to click the ‘Calculate’ button!

B: What is the #1 quality that you value in a teammate?

C: I highly value collaboration because it fosters ambition, creativity, and innovation in others. The sharing of knowledge empowers and inspires teams to be better while giving everyone an opportunity to learn something new. Knowledge really is power.

B: Aside from giving awesome Portfolio tips, what do you do for fun?

C: Traveling is absolutely my favorite thing to do. I’m pretty adventurous and enjoy experiencing new cultures. On a more regular cadence, I love to play and watch sports (mostly soccer and golf), hike, ride my bike, and eat…but who doesn’t love to eat?

Thanks, Cameron :)! 

To read Cameron's invaluable Portfolio for Jira tips, click here. If you or a friend/colleague have a spotlight worthy story to share, please shoot me an email to bsauer@atlassian.com.