Looking to increase admin skills now that I'm behind the scenes

[Chris Freeman]

Hi everyone. Chris Freeman here, joining what seems to be an awesome group of people. I've worked in Jira/Confluence for years as a user, but now I've been moved over to help implement a system, and they seem to be struggling. Maybe you guys can help me help them?

[Wade Tracy _Boise_ ID_]

Welcome! I definitely know what it feels like!  Some resources that I have used for getting up to speed:

1. Online courses (Lynda and such)
2. Books (I have used Rachel Wright's book but I can't comment on others)
3. Atlassian's documentation (just make sure you look at the right version - Cloud/Server) - https://confluence.atlassian.com/alldoc/atlassian-documentation-32243719.html
4. Connect with your local user group if there is one - https://aug.atlassian.com/ and the online counterpart if it exists - https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Atlassian-Community-Events/ct-p/general-aug
5. Above all else, make sure you have a sandbox version of Jira and Confluence spun up somewhere so you can play around with it while doing all the other above steps.  The best way that I learned was hands on and getting answers to my questions when I got stuck.

Hope this helps!

[Chris Freeman]

Cool, thanks Wade. I've been having issues getting my own sandbox. So I'm having to play with a cloud trial version online. Not the same for sure, but at least I'm running with it and getting the hands a little muddy.

[Chris Freeman]

Book ordered. Thank you Amazon

[Erica Moss]

@Chris Freeman Hey, Chris! I think I already caught you over on the "what's on my desk" thread, but let me know if you have any other questions. 👩🏻‍💻

[Chris Freeman]

Will do Erica

[Anthony Wu]

Hi Chris! 

As a new admin there are so many things to consider. 

• Find a good balance of giving your users what they need, and not compromising your instance. Try to limit new, redundant custom fields. Reuse them if you can
• Be mindful in creating new schemes. If you can share a generic, default scheme, do so. 
• Use project roles instead of groups
• Understand the permission helper as much as you can, often times it can answer why a certain user can't execute a function(manage sprints, close a sprint, etc.)
• If a user is having trouble with a workflow transition, check for validators/conditions
• Read up on Atlassian's documentation, Rachel Wright's book as stated by Wade above, and the Atlassian forums are a great place to check for questions that have already been asked/answered. 

Hope this helps!

[Chris Freeman]

Yes, Permission Helper is something in play here, since I don't think they are configuring it properly. Too many people have too many access issues.

[Antroy Ashton]

Hi everyone .. any special reason for not allowing project export/import from Server to Cloud ?  I did the workaround by exporting the issues to CSV them re-import into a new project.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

This is a great thread, lots of amazing tips shared. Welcome to the community @Chris Freeman :)