Atlassian Jira Software Cloud: New Insights Announced

Enhancing DevOps Performance with Data-Driven Insights

DevOps teams consistently strive for improvement, aiming to accelerate software delivery and enhance reliability. However, a frequent obstacle is the lack of actionable insights needed to facilitate genuine progress.

Atlassian Introduces New Jira Cloud Capabilities

Atlassian is now equipping users of its Jira Software Cloud platform with a suite of new features designed to deliver data-driven insights into the software development lifecycle. Jira, a widely-used issue and project tracking solution, already included functionalities to help teams monitor their workflow progress.

These new insights represent a significant advancement beyond Jira’s traditional offerings, providing specific analyses related to various facets of agile software development. The primary objective is to empower organizations to identify their strengths and pinpoint areas where development teams can optimize their processes, ultimately leading to greater overall efficiency.

The Challenge of Actionable Data

“Data is abundant, yet the insights and understanding required to inform effective action are often elusive,” stated Megan Cook, head of product for Jira Software, in an interview with TechCrunch. “It’s challenging to work more intelligently without this clarity, and that’s the core problem we’re addressing.”

Cook emphasized the necessity for development teams to have access to real-time metrics regarding their performance, enabling them to make informed, data-backed decisions. She highlighted that Atlassian is currently focused on consolidating data from diverse development tracking tools within Jira Cloud, creating a centralized hub for team decision-making.

Sprint Commitment Insights

One example of the new insights offered by Jira Cloud pertains to sprint commitments. In agile methodologies, software development occurs in short cycles called “sprints,” where developers work to complete specific tasks. This new capability aims to help teams accurately assess their capacity, based on historical performance data.

The underlying business goal is to provide a clearer understanding of whether a team is consistently over- or under-committing to sprints, allowing for more realistic planning and execution.

Issue Type Breakdown for Enhanced Visibility

Another valuable insight is the issue type breakdown. Cook explained that teams often personalize their issue categorization schemes. These categories can encompass various project types, including bug fixes and technical debt resolution, innovation and growth initiatives, or incremental feature enhancements.

The issue type breakdown insight provides a visual representation of the types of issues and projects teams are currently engaged in, offering a more intuitive understanding than previous methods. While users could previously identify these issues through search, Cook stressed that the new insights approach is considerably more streamlined.

Image Credits: Atlassian

Upcoming Sprint Burndown Insight

In the coming weeks, Cook announced the addition of the sprint burndown insight. Within the agile framework, the burndown chart tracks the remaining work in a sprint.

This new insight will visually display the amount of work left to complete and assess the likelihood of finishing it within the allocated timeframe.

Atlassian’s Continued Growth

Enabling developer teams to operate more efficiently is a core value that Atlassian has cultivated for years, contributing to its substantial growth. Atlassian recently reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 revenue of $560 million, representing a 30% year-over-year increase driven by the strength of its developer collaboration and management tools.