In the dynamic world of project management, a valued giant is under scrutiny: JIRA, the tried-and-tested tool used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. But is it time to say goodbye? Is JIRA fighting a losing battle against the up-and-coming challengers?
Petar Jovančević, an experienced P3 Agile coach, shares his uncomfortable opinion: “Although I always like to sing love songs about JIRA’s beautiful search function via query, how great roadmaps can be presented or how rich the user interface is, I still have to honestly say: JIRA is now an outdated project management tool.” The more time passes, the more weaknesses become apparent – from the lack of Confluence integration to outdated functions. The former “apostle of JIRA” admits that the competition has convincing arguments – above all Azure DevOps.
Launched in 2018, the “Software-as-a-Service” platform casts its shadow over JIRA. Marija Cekuš, Azure DevOps expert at P3, explains: “Azure DevOps is 16 years younger – these are universes in IT. First and foremost, thanks to its modern API, it is more advanced than JIRA. This makes the system more extensible and gives everyone the opportunity to adapt many things to their needs relatively easily. This includes further product development based on Azure boards, better tracking of business intelligence, and development, to name just a few examples.” Azure DevOps also manages to enable seamless integration with other services and offers not only a comprehensive overview of the work results, but also an efficient solution for software development. “It may lack the rich user interface, but its simplicity and clarity make Azure DevOps a solution from start to finish.”
And with that the battle is already decided and JIRA is doomed? Absolutely not! Experts like Jovančević continue to defend JIRA’s right to exist. For example, for companies that are stuck in ongoing, cross-departmental projects and are not in the Microsoft infrastructure, JIRA may still be the right choice. The efficient method of project management and the adaptability through numerous plug-ins make JIRA attractive. “JIRA is right on point – and helps very well in many cases.”
Unfortunately, many companies don’t stay with JIRA because of its competencies and capabilities, but for a completely different reason. “Sad but true: The main argument of many users for sticking with JIRA is pure routine. They think they don’t need this change, because so far everything has more or less worked,” Petar Jovančević has to admit. And Marija Cekuš is also convinced: “Old habits die hard.” Switching from JIRA to Azure DevOps doesn’t have to be complicated, let alone traumatic, the experts emphasize. Thanks to a modernly designed API, integration is easy. “As a rule, we write a script adapted to the situation, let it work for a weekend – and that’s it.”
To anyone who is still wondering whether it makes sense to switch from JIRA to Azure DevOps, our experts say: “That depends on the work situation. For a startup with a small team and a small project, the consequences of a decision are insignificant. But as soon as the company gets bigger, the answer is clear: You should switch. It’s a crucial step into the future.” And not just because of the easy scalability that Azure DevOps provides. “It’s cloud-native. Over the past decade, many companies have migrated to the cloud, and in some industries, this migration has already been completed.” And that’s a step every company needs to take to keep up with the future.
Jira or Azure DevOps – a difficult decision that every company has to make for itself. Because this battle has not yet been finally decided. And who knows if a previously unseen competitor won’t soon appear on the battlefield and take out the two rivals equally. At least that’s what Marija Cekuš could well imagine: “I’m very curious to see what Google comes up with. After all, they already have a stack: the cloud, cloud services, and Firebase. I don’t know what their roadmap is, but it would be nice to see them gather the knowledge and experience from all the tools we have now and then come up with something. No matter what comes out of it, it will definitely blow our minds! I think the future will be exciting.”
CONCLUSION: THE CHOICE HAS CONSEQUENCES:
Finally, the experts advise you to think carefully about which tool is best suited to your individual requirements. The bottom line is: Too many tools can lead to chaos. The decision between JIRA and Azure DevOps should therefore be carefully considered, as it has far-reaching consequences for efficiency and collaboration in the company.
In the world of project management, the competition remains exciting, and it remains to be seen which tool will emerge victorious in the end.
JIRA
Pros:
+ helpful search by queries
+ rich user interface
+ Customizability through numerous plug-ins
Cons:
– partially outdated
– Confluence is not integrated into the tool, but externally available
Particularly suitable for:
- Companies that are already working with it in various companies
AZURE DEVOPS
Pros:
+ Easily adaptable to personal needs through open API
+ seamless integration of other services
+ Cloud-native
+ Easily scalable
Cons:
– no pretty user interface
Particularly suitable for:
- Companies that want to work with management tools for the first time
