Be gentle and kind to your users! ❤️

[#1]

(they're not as lucky to be a Jira Admin like you!)

It's a human thing actually, isn't it? Specially in "provider—consumer" relationships, we seem to blame the end-user quite often:

• The products' not malfunctioning, it's the user using it wrong; (hardware)
• The products' not malfunctioning, it's the user using it wrong; (software)
• What you're asking doesn't make sense — you can't possibly need this;
• And so on..!

Everyone's an end-user to someone else. So what makes you like a product? What makes you like a company? Maybe the way you feel respected and helped by the people that work with/for it? Maybe because the people who work with/for it are often cheery and uplifting? Maybe 'cause they make you feel good that you reached out for them for help? 🙂

The reason I'm writing this is because, maybe, sometimes you feel tired or upset about some end-users situations, too. You might've even ranted about it in the Community or with fellow Admins, or might've seen fellow Admins feel that way, too. We're all humans and we are entitled to feel tired, too.

But let's keep in mind what makes us like Jira (and Atlassian). Let me burden you a bit with some personal experiences of a few years back, when I was lucky enough to work as a Jira Admin for a whole company in Brazil.

People from all business areas would come to us asking how they could get rid of the daily e-mail mess and we'd spin up a neat JSM Project for them with fancy Request Types, custom icons and all and they'd go NUTS over it!
Not to mention the automation scripts and automation rules we'd set up to make their experience such that they'd enjoy Jira (almost) as much as we did!

Then they'd go about asking if we could do something about their spreadsheets... and we'd build Dashboards and reports for them and again, they'd go CRAZY about it!

Sometimes we'd build the JQLs, Gadgets and Dashboard during the meetings and I'll never forget the look in their eyes as they saw requirements turn into solution so easily! At the end of the meeting, they were left with a URL that they could start using immediately (!) and provide us feedback!

It was about January 2019, after having worked as Jira Admin for 3-4 years then, that I decided to shift my career towards the Atlassian market. (I applied for a job at Atlassian some 5 months later 🙂)

When we're happy, spreading happiness brings even more joy. When we enjoy something, we unconsciously want others to enjoy it too — that's why we share, that's why we like telling a joke we heard and so on.

So if you like Jira, if you enjoy being a Jira Admin and want to keep doing these awesome things you do (yes they ARE awesome!), be KIND to your users!
They're under a lot of pressure too and Jira's helping them get it done! — YOU're helping them get it done!

Don't ever be someone who they'd refrain or avoid asking help from!

Be Gentle!
Be Kind!
And keep being that awesome Jira Admin you are! ⭐

❤️

[Jimmy Seddon]

Extremely well put @Rodrigo Martinez!

I have been an Atlassian Administrator for about 8 years now, and I have always tried to have an open door policy about requests for help.

[Dharma Ramos]

Thanks for the article. I do feel that our enthusiasm can be contagious and a lot of times my users gain appreciation for what Jira can do because of my own giddiness at making something work. Though I sometimes struggle with the old, "just because I can, does not mean I should", I find I have to rein myself in sometimes.

[Julia Nunes Pedrosa]

Oh boy! I needed to read it all. 

Thank's for sharing, Rô!

Let's wear that Jira Hero cape again! <3

[rangel de oliveira machado]

Muito bom mesmo. Parabéns. Achei legal o fato de relembrar que somos usuários finais até dentro das nossas equipes. Estamos sempre consumindo informações e conhecimento de outros membros.

[Daiane Conte]

Thank you so much for sharing your point of view :)

Sometimes we get lost and this reflection is worth it to rescue us! To empathize with your client/user, to be kind and to bring solutions that facilitate the day to day of the teams is the role of the Administrator of the tools and I always take this as a mantra in my life!

[Linda Milne_Togetha Group_]

 We often forget this in I.T. in general, not just as jira admins. VERY good points @Rodrigo Martinez . Great reminder.

[Alexander Bondarev]

@Rodrigo Martinez ,

I completely agree with you and your mindset.
This phrase makes me think:

Don't ever be someone who they'd refrain or avoid asking help from!

Thanks for article!

[Daniel Ebers]

Thanks for the summary! Such a nice article - I loved reading it, there is so much truth in it. Everybody should respect those points, weave them into daily handling of end-users-requests and earth would be a better place :)

[Dave Liao]

But usually it is the user that's using it wrong! However, there's no benefit to reminding the user. 😅

Technology is hard to use, even for admins embedded in one or more tools deeply. Imagine how it feels to be a user who casually tries to use these tools? Users have different levels of experience, and different types of experience, so we should empathize with the user as much as possible, then try to solve their challenge.

Like @Rodrigo Martinez the more we get folks excited about our tools, the more they'll use them, and share best practices with other tool users. And that's a scalable support model.

[Mahesh S]

Loved it. Thanks for sharing! 

[Randall Strother]

I'm super excited reading your kind words here. Glad to be a part of this community. 

[Patrícia Fortunato Montenegro]

It's so nice to read your point of view because I always thought about the other side, regarding our customers. The primary idea day by day is sharing and learning more and more, understanding all the possible scenarios.

Glad for you for sharing with us @Rodrigo Martinez !!

Have a nice day, buddy! 😉

[Patrícia Fortunato Montenegro]

Glad for you for sharing with us @Rodrigo Martinez !!

It's so nice to read your point of view because I always thought about the other side, regarding our customers. The primary idea day by day is sharing and learning more and more, understanding all the possible scenarios.

Have a nice day, buddy! 😉