IT teams, developers, department heads and CTOs need to ensure that applications and digital products reach the market quickly, efficiently and securely.
In our webinar "Platform Engineering - Build AWS Accounts in Just One Hour with JSM Cloud", our DevOps ambassadors Chris and Ivan, along with Atlassian platform expert Marcin from BSH, introduced the transformative approach of platform engineering and how it is revolutionizing cloud infrastructure management for development teams. In our conversation, we discussed the concept of platform engineering, including how to initiate the process of using platform engineering, what obstacles organizations may encounter and how to overcome them with self-service for developers. We also showed how Jira Service Management can be used as a self-service for developers to create AWS accounts in just one hour.
Understanding platform engineering
"Platform Engineering is a foundation of self-service APIs, tools, services, knowledge and support designed as a compelling internal product," said Ivan Ermilov during the webinar. This concept is at the heart of internal developer platforms (IDPs)aimed at streamlining operations and supporting development teams. By simplifying access to cloud resources, platform engineering promotes a more efficient and autonomous working environment.
One of the key takeaways from the webinar was the numerous benefits that platform engineering brings. Not only does it speed up the delivery of features, but it also significantly reduces manual tasks for developers. The discussion highlighted how teams gain independence, leading to a more agile and responsive IT infrastructure.
Overcoming traditional challenges
Traditional methods of managing cloud infrastructure often lead to project delays and security compliance issues. Ivan pointed out that "a common scenario I've personally encountered in my career is that deploying infrastructure requires a cascade of approvals. The whole process can take weeks. One specific example we encounter in our customer environment is that AWS account provisioning can take weeks to complete. One reason for this is usually that the infrastructure landscape is simply inefficient and not standardized." By using platform engineering, companies can overcome these hurdles and pave the way for a more streamlined and secure process.
Success story from the field: BSH's journey
Marcin Guz from BSH told the story of the company's transformation and illustrated the transition to automated cloud infrastructure management. The practical aspects of implementing platform engineering principles were highlighted, emphasizing how operational efficiency could be improved.
Technical insights: The self-service model
Ivan and Chris Becker discussed the implementation of a self-service model using Jira Service Management (JSM) and automation pipelines. This approach allows developers to manage cloud resources, including the creation of AWS accounts, in as little as an hour - a marked difference from the days or weeks it used to take.
Live demo: Quick AWS account creation
A highlight was the live demonstration by Chris Becker, who presented the optimized process for setting up AWS accounts. This real-time presentation served as a practical guide for the audience, illustrating the simplicity and efficiency of the self-service model.
A look into the future: The future of platform engineering
The webinar concluded with a look to the future. Ivan spoke about exciting future developments such as multi-cloud strategies and the integration of DevSecOps approaches, giving an indication of the ever-evolving landscape of platform engineering.
Watch our webinar on-demand
Want to learn about the possibilities of platform engineering and developer self-service? Watch our on-demand webinar to learn more about platform engineering, IDPs and developer self-service. In this informative session, you'll gain insights that will help you transform your cloud infrastructure management.
The Atlassian community recently met at the High Velocity event in Sydney. At the event, Atlassian leaders presented groundbreaking new features in Jira Service Management (JSM) and announced new collaborations. JSM customers gave insights into how they use the Atlassian platform in their business, underlining how Atlassian is revolutionizing service management. The overarching motto was: End bad service management.
In this article, we give you an overview of the most exciting news and new features in Jira Service Management.
The most important news & new features at a glance
New cooperation:
New cooperation with Airtrack enables comprehensive asset management in JSM
New features:
Integration of Compass in JSM combines dev and ops data for full transparency
Asset dashboard provides meaningful insights
Integration of DevSecOps tools helps to create transparency about security vulnerabilities
Integration of CI/CD tools supports seamless collaboration between Dev and Ops
Customer support template optimizes support processes
Single sign-on for customer accounts creates a seamless user experience
Service management templates make teams more autonomous and faster
Board View of tickets for optimized overview
Dark Mode for eye-friendly working
Virtual Agent answers questions with the help of artificial intelligence
Agent Co-Pilot creates summaries and optimizes communication
Further news:
New upper limit of 20,000 agents per instance on JSM
Increase in the upper limits of objects in the asset and configuration database to 3 million
Expansion of regional export for data residency: newest region in Canada
Transparency through a "single source of truth"
Integration of Atlassian's Compass and JSM
Compass is one of the latest additions to the Atlassian family. This is a software catalog designed to assist developers in answering queries such as: How do I find a particular micro service? Who owns it? How do I get help if something goes wrong? How do I know if it meets security and compliance requirements?
At the same time, Compass serves as a monitoring tool that supports DevOps teams in monitoring software components and reacting quickly if something gets out of hand.
Compass supports development teams, which are often globally distributed and work independently of each other, in creating full visibility of a service and thus facilitating collaboration.
Thanks to the integration in JSM, the IT team, which handles the operational side of a service such as incident and change management, has a full overview of a service and its dependent components. If there is a problem with one of the service components, for example, IT can react and only roll out the change once the problem has been resolved.
JSM gives the IT operations team complete visibility of related services, whether all components are intact or whether development is working on a problem.
By combining Compass and JSM, developers and the IT team have a view of the same data source, but with the information that is important for their respective jobs. This solves the major challenge of updating data from traditional CMDBs (Configuration Management Database) and expands the view to the developer perspective.
Traditional CMDBs do not provide the complete picture that the IT operations team needs. It also implies a significant amount of work required to ensure that it remains current. Modern CMDBs bring Dev and Ops relevant information together in one platform, creating holistic transparency.
Comprehensive Asset Management with Airtrack and new Asset Dashboard
With the announcement that Airtrack is now part of the Atlassian family, JSM users can now operate comprehensive asset management. Airtrack supports companies in merging and analyzing different data sources and ensures that the data is correct, up-to-date and complete. It provides over 30 out-of-the-box connections, enables data reconciliation (e.g., helps identify missing dependencies between services; discovers unmanaged machines) and processes data beyond IT (e.g., managing security, compliance, billing, forecasting, etc.).
The asset data is stored in a new Asset Dashboard in JSM that provides meaningful insights and supports IT teams in their decision-making processes. Various reports can be created in the dashboard.
The extensive asset data is also available in Atlassian Analytics . This means that they can also be combined with data from other Atlassian tools and third-party tools. JSM thus brings development, infrastructure & operations and business teams together on one platform and creates transparency across the entire company.
In Atlassian Analytics, additional data can be combined with the asset data: e.g. actual operating costs from the AWS Cloud, budget information from Snowflake in comparison with the assets from the JSM database. This gives you an overview of service, costs and performance in one place.
Breaking down silos for more relaxed collaboration
For Developers and IT Operations
Collaboration between developers and IT teams can be challenging. While developers want to quickly deliver new services and added value, the IT team makes sure that these do not pose any risks to operations. New integration options for developer tools in Jira Service Management are designed to eliminate these friction points and ensure seamless collaboration.
The Integration of DevSecOps-Tools in Jira makes it possible to manage risks better. It makes all security vulnerabilities visible within a sprint. Automation rules can also be created to automatically create tasks in Jira when a security vulnerability is identified. This ensures that all risks are addressed before the service is rolled out.
Through the Integration of common CI/CD tools development teams can create change requests without having to leave the tools they use on a daily basis. The change request is automatically created in JSM and can therefore be accessed directly by the IT team.
Ultimately, the result is an integrated process from development and risk assessment through to the approval and implementation of changes. High-risk services can be fed back to the development team in the CI/CD tool for checking before they are implemented in the production system.
With the new Release Hub in Jira they also have an overview of the status of their services, and automatic notifications inform them when a service has been rolled out.
Jira Service Management integrates developer tools, creating a seamless system for Dev and Ops.
For Customer Support and Development teams
A new JSM template for customer support provides a convenient overview of all customer-relevant data and processes.
It also includes a feature that supports the seamless escalation process and improves collaboration between development teams and support teams. Support staff can escalate customer issues directly in JSM, and the tickets are created directly as bugs in Jira Software. This also allows developers to quickly see what impact the bug they are working on is having on customers. At the same time, the support team has a central overview of all escalated tickets.
For Customer Support and Customers
For seamless communication and ticket creation, customers can be provided with a single sign-on (SSO) solution. Jira Service Management now enables a connection to a separate SSO provider such as Microsoft Azure AD, Google Cloud Identity, etc.
Quick and easy set-up of various Service Desks
New service management templates for different areas of the company ensure that teams can quickly and easily create their own Service Desk. They contain preconfigured request forms and workflows that can be used directly.
The customization options for the service management templates have also been improved and simplified. Furthermore, users can choose from several best-practice templates or create their own forms.
This allows teams to act more autonomously and quickly without having to involve a system admin for setup and changes.
Fast set-up and simple handling of the service management templates.
Working more progressively with Atlassian's Artificial Intelligence & Co.
New features for a more user-friendly application
Under this motto, JSM now offers a highly-requested function: The view of tickets in a Board View simplifies the overview and offers the usual drag-and-drop options.
Improved ticket overview and intuitive editing options.
Another new feature is that, for example, night-time users working on support tickets can now also use JSM in Dark Mode for a more eye-friendly experience.
Integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) simplifies daily tasks and increases work efficiency
With the vision of freeing employees from repetitive tasks and scaling Service Desks, the Virtual Agent is now available in JSM. The Virtual Agent is able to ask a logical follow-up question to an employee question in order to play out the answer for the employee as concretely as possible.
The Virtual Agent quickly provides the right answer with the help of a predefined sequence of follow-up questions.
The unique advantage of the Virtual Agent is that it is designed in such a way that anyone can set it up themselves. This is made possible by an easy-to-use no-code interface in which the employee can determine the path that a request goes through. This means that the agent can be set up within a few hours instead of spending days and weeks.
The Virtual Agent can also be installed within a few hours via a no-code interface by non-technical employees.
The features of the Agent Co-Pilot (powered by Atlassian Intelligence) has been rolled out. This is intended to improve service management quality in particular, which often suffers when different support employees take turns working on a ticket. The challenge for employees is to keep up to date with the latest information each time, which can be very time-consuming.
With just one click, the Agent Co-Pilot provides a short and concise summary of all processes that have already been documented in this ticket and brings the support employee up to speed in the shortest possible time.
The agent also assists with the formulation of messages to make communication as efficient and clear as possible. It reformulates written texts so that they are clear and professional and provide the necessary context for the recipient.
More news about Jira Service Management
Further news at the High Velocity Event was that the upper limits were raised as follows:
for agents per JSM instance to 20,000 agents
and for objects in the asset and configuration database to 3 million.
Regional export for data residency has also been extended to the Canadian region. The following figure summarizes these updates once again.
Atlassian's future vision for Service Management
Finally, Atlassian's vision for its service management platform was emphasized: No matter how many different technologies, teams, and systems are in use in the service area - Jira Service Management is connected to all systems as a central platform and serves as a control system to coordinate and solve requests, regardless of which system they are solved in.
Artificial intelligence helps to provide quick, clear and consistent answers. It is also connected to all systems, collects the information there and delivers it in a concise summary.
IT teams, developers, department heads and CTOs must ensure that applications and digital products are launched quickly, efficiently and securely and are always available. But often the conditions for this are not given. Compliance and security policies, as well as long and complicated processes, make it difficult for IT teams to achieve these goals. But this doesn't have to be the case and can be solved with the help of a developer self-service or Internal Developer Platform.
Platform Engineering vs. Internal Developer Platform vs. Developer Self-Service
What is Platform Engineering?
Platform Engineering is a new trend that aims to modernize enterprise software delivery. Platform engineering implements reusable tools and self-service capabilities with automated infrastructure workflows that improve developer experience and productivity. Initial platform engineering efforts often start with internal developer platforms (IDPs).
Platform Engineering helps make software creation and delivery faster and easier by providing unified tools, workflows, and technical foundations. It's like a well-organized toolkit and workshop for software developers to get their work done more efficiently and without unnecessary obstacles.
What is Platform Engineering used for?
The ideal development platform for one company may be completely unusable for another. Even within the same company, different development teams may have very different requirements.
The main goal of a technology platform is to increase developer productivity. At the enterprise level, such platforms promote consistency and efficiency. For developers, they provide significant relief in dealing with delivery pipelines and low-level infrastructure.
What is an Internal Developer Platform (IDP)?
Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs), also known as Developer Self-Service Platforms, are systems set up within organizations to accelerate and simplify the software development process. They provide developers with a centralized, standardized, and automated environment in which to write, test, deploy, and manage code.
IDPs provide a set of tools, features, and processes. The goal is to provide developers with a smooth self-service experience that offers the right features to help developers and others produce valuable software with as little effort as possible.
How is Platform Engineering different from Internal Developer Platform?
Platform Engineering is the overarching area that deals with the creation and management of software platforms. Within Platform Engineering, Integrated Development Platforms (IDPs) are developed as specific tools or platforms. These offer developers self-service and automation functions.
What is Developer Self-Service?
Developer Self-Service is a concept that enables developers to create and manage the resources and environments they need themselves, without having to wait for support from operations teams or other departments. This increases efficiency, reduces wait times, and increases productivity through self-service and faster access to resources. This means developers don't have to wait for others to get what they need and can get their work done faster.
How do IDPs help with this?
Think of Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) as a well-organized supermarket where everything is easy to find. IDPs provide all the tools and services necessary for developers to get their jobs done without much hassle. They are, so to speak, the place where self-service takes place.
The transition to platform engineering
When a company moves from IDPs to Platform Engineering, it's like making the leap from a small local store to a large purchasing center. Platform Engineering offers a broader range of services and greater automation. It helps companies further streamline and scale their development processes.
By moving to Platform Engineering, companies can make their development processes more efficient, improve collaboration, and ultimately bring better products to market faster. The first step with IDPs and Developer Self-Service lays the foundation to achieve this higher level of efficiency and automation.
Challenges that can be solved with platform engineering
Scalability & Standardization
In growing companies, as well as large and established ones, the number of IT projects and teams can grow rapidly. Traditional development practices can make it difficult to scale the development environment and keep everyone homogeneous. As IT projects or applications continue to grow, there are differences in setup and configuration, security and compliance standards, and an overview of which user has access to what.
Platform Engineering enables greater scalability by introducing automation and standardized processes that make it easier to handle a growing number of projects and application developments.
Efficiency and productivity
Delays in developing and building infrastructure can be caused by manual processes and dependencies between teams, increasing the time to market for applications. Platform Engineering helps overcome these challenges by providing self-service capabilities and automation that enable teams to work faster and more independently.
Security & Compliance
Security concerns are central to any development process. Through platform engineering, we standardize and integrate security and compliance standards into the development process and IT infrastructure in advance, enabling consistent security auditing and management.
Consistency and standardization
Different teams and projects might use different tools and practices, which can lead to inconsistencies. Platform engineering promotes standardization by providing a common platform with consistent tools and processes that can be used by everyone.
Innovation and experimentation
The ability to quickly test and iterate on new ideas is critical to a company's ability to innovate. Platform Engineering provides an environment that encourages experimentation and rapid iteration by efficiently providing the necessary infrastructure and tools.
Cost control
Optimizing and automating development processes can reduce operating costs. Platform Engineering provides the tools and practices to use resources efficiently and thus reduce the total cost of development.
Real-world example: IDP and Developer Self-Service with Jira Service Management and AWS
One way to start with platform engineering is for example Jira Service Management as a developer self-service to set up AWS cloud infrastructure in an automated and secure way and to provide templates for developers and cloud engineers in a wiki.
How does it work?
Jira Service Management Developer Self-Service
Using Jira Service Management, one of our customers provides a self-service that allows developers to set up an AWS organization account automatically and securely. This works with a simple portal and a service request form where the user has to provide information like name, function, account type, security and technical responsible and approving manager.
The account is then created on AWS in the backend using Python scripts in a build pipeline. During setup, all security and compliance relevant standards are already integrated and the JSM self-service is linked to the company's Active Directory. Due to the deep integration with all relevant systems of the company, it is possible to explicitly track who has access to what. This also facilitates the control of accesses and existing accounts in retrospect.
The result: The time required to create AWS organization accounts is reduced to less than an hour (from several weeks) with the help of JSM, enabling IT teams to publish, test and update their products faster. It also provides visibility into which and how many accounts already exist and for which product, making it easier to control the cost of cloud infrastructure on AWS.
Confluence Cloud as a knowledge database for IT teams
Of course, developer self-service is only a small part of platform engineering. IT teams need concrete tools and apps tailored to their needs.
One of these tools is a knowledgebase where IT teams, from developers to cloud engineers, can find relevant information such as templates that make their work easier and faster.
We have built a knowledge database with Confluence at our customer that provides a wide variety of templates, courses, best practices, and important information about processes. This knowledge database enables all relevant stakeholders to obtain important information and further training at any time.
Webinar - The First Step in Platform Engineering with a Developer Self-Service and JSM
After discussing the challenges and solutions that Platform Engineering brings, it is important to put these concepts into practice and explore them further. A great opportunity to learn more about the practical application of Platform Engineering is an upcoming webinar. This webinar will put a special focus on automating AWS infrastructure creation using Jira Service Management and Developer Self-Service. In addition, ess will feature a live demo with our DevOps experts.
Conclusion
The journey from Internal Developer Platforms to Platform Engineering is a progressive step that helps organizations optimize their development processes. By leveraging a Developer Self-Service and overcoming software development challenges, Platform Engineering paves the way for more efficient and innovative development practices. With practical resources like the featured webinar, interested parties can dive deeper into this topic. And also gain valuable insights into how to effectively implement Platform Engineering.
Atlassian Cloud is at the center of many teams' minds when it comes to effective collaboration. There are now some changes coming to the pricing structure and individual products in October 2023. These pricing adjustments affect the Atlassian Cloud products, among others Jira, Jira Service Management, Confluence and Access.
The adjustments are made for the Atlassian Cloud on October 18, 2023 and for the Jira Cloud Products on November 1, 2023 come into force.
In this article we will give you an overview of the price and product adjustments.
The most important at a glance
The increase in list prices concerns:
Jira Software and Confluence (5 %)
Jira Service Management (5-30 %)
Access (for more than 1,000 users 10 %)
Cloud pricing increases for renewal subscriptions to Jira Software Premium, Jira Service Management Standard, Jira Service Management Premium, and Atlassian Access.
New automation limits for Jira Cloud products go into effect on November 1, 2023.
These adjustments underscore Atlassian's commitment to developing innovative products that better connect teams and increase their efficiency. Over the past year, Atlassian has introduced various security updates and new product features, including guest access for Confluence, progressive deployment and improved security features in Jira Software, and advanced incident and change management in Jira Service Management.
Detailed information on pricing adjustments for the Atlassian Cloud
In this table you will find all the information about the price adjustments and how the changes will affect your existing licenses.
Increase in percent (%)
Jira Software Cloud Standard, Premium, Enterprise
5 %
Jira Service ManagementCloud Standard, Premium, Enterprise
In addition, Atlassian is increasing the preferential pricing/pricing on renewal of existing subscriptions to its cloud products. This applies to Jira Software, Jira Service Management and Jira Access.
You can find more information about the price adjustments on the Atlassian website.
Product customizations for automations in Jira Cloud products
In addition, Atlassian announced changes for performing automations for Jira software, Jira Service Management, Jira Work Management, and Jira Product Discovery. These will come into effect on November 1, 2023.
In the previous model, customers receive a single, common limit across all Jira Cloud products. For example, if a customer has Jira Software Free and Jira Service Management Standard, they receive a total of 600 executions of automation rules per month (100 from Jira Software Free and 500 from Jira Service Management Standard) that can be used in both products.
In the new model starting November 2023, each Jira Cloud product has its own usage limit. Each automation rule will use the limit of a specific product when it is run. The limits for the Atlassian Free and Standard plans will increase to reflect this. The automation limits in the new model are as follows:
More updates from Atlassian: Improved support for cloud migration
The pricing adjustments are just a few of Atlassian's recent changes. The company has also revised its support and testing options for migration projects to make it easier to move to the cloud.
Server customers who have not yet migrated to the cloud can now test the cloud for six months. The test phase now also includes support for selected Marketplace applications.
Dual licensing for large server customers has been extended through February 15, 2024, and for enterprise customers through February 15, 2025.
Why is it worth considering a migration to the Atlassian Cloud now?
For Enterprise customers who want to move to the cloud but cannot complete the migration in time for the end of Server Support in February 2024, Atlassian offers an extension of Server Support in the form of Dual Licensing*. (*For all customers who purchase an annual cloud subscription of 1,001 or more users on or after September 12, 2023).
Wondering how the price adjustments will affect you, or already thinking about migrating to the cloud?
Contact us - our experts will check which options are worthwhile for you. We offer you a free cloud assessment: Within a very short time, you will receive a detailed cost calculation for your migration.
Together with you, we will conduct a cloud assessment and tell you what your options are and how to get to the Atlassian Cloud the fastest.
Click here for your personal cloud assessment and for the path to the cloud.
Picture this: You're in a virtual meeting, your team is spread across different offices and time zones, and you need to brainstorm ideas for the next big project. The days when scribbling on a piece of paper or a physical whiteboard was enough are long gone. With visual collaboration tools like Confluence Whiteboards, Miro, or Lucidspark, it's easier to visualize and share your ideas in real time.
However, the tool landscape with its many options is somewhat confusing. Miro is the largest provider on the market. But with the newly released Confluence Whiteboard (Beta), you may already have the perfect solution for visualizing your ideas at hand. Especially if you have a Confluence Cloud users are (if not, why not?).
This article explains the main features of Confluence Whiteboards and the differences with Miro.
What are Confluence Whiteboards?
Confluence Whiteboards is a new whiteboarding feature within Confluence and Jira, which is based on the Atlassian Team'23 was announced and is currently available as a beta version.
Whiteboards transform Confluence into a powerful online whiteboard. It allows you to collaborate with others in real time, share ideas, and brainstorm solutions.
The most important functions of Confluence Whiteboards
With Confluence Whiteboards, you can:
Free drawing and sketching
Add text, images and files
Use shapes and templates
Add comments to documents
Collaborate with others in real time
Share whiteboards with others
Templates for different topics and teams
Confluence Whiteboards is still under development, so more features will be added soon. Also, since it's directly integrated with Confluence, you don't have to pay for an additional tool like Miro.
Why you need Confluence Whiteboards
There are several scenarios where Confluence whiteboards are useful:
Remote Brainstorming: Teams spread across multiple locations can simultaneously jot down ideas, group them, and prioritize them to ensure every voice is heard.
Design Workshops: Designers can create wireframes, user journeys, and even high-fidelity prototypes while gathering instant feedback from stakeholders.
Agile Planning: Scrum masters and product owners can effectively perform sprint planning, retrospectives, and backlog prioritization.
Training & Workshops: Instructors and trainers can use Confluence Whiteboards to conduct interactive sessions where students or participants can actively engage in group activities.
Customer workshops: Consultants or agencies can collaborate with clients in real time to make strategy sessions more productive and engaging.
Research and Analysis: Teams can map research findings, user interviews, or competitive analysis and visually organize the data to gain better insights.
Another advantage of Confluence whiteboards over Miro for agile teams is that it's much easier to assign tasks and Jira Tickets Create directly from drafts and notes in whiteboards.
Confluence Whiteboards UI - Notice how easy it is to create a Jira ticket using a simple text box.
Confluence Whiteboards UI after converting the text field to a Jira ticket.
In summary, Confluence Whiteboards is a great tool that can take advantage of the features of other Atlassian Tools extends: collaboration and teamwork. It also allows you to get more out of your Atlassian licenses to increase ROI, so to speak.
What is Miro?
How Confluence Whiteboards is Miro an online collaboration platform designed to bring teams together, whether they work remotely or in the same office. It provides an intuitive, visual way to organize thoughts, brainstorm, plan projects, and more.
Source: Miro
Most important features
Real-time collaboration: Multiple users can work on the same whiteboard at the same time and see each other's changes live.
Pre-made templates: A wide range of ready-to-use templates for various activities such as mindmapping, project planning, SWOT analysis, etc.
Integration with other tools: Seamless integration with popular platforms like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Unlimited workspace: The workspace can be expanded infinitely and offers as much space as needed for complex projects.
Notes and Comments: Team members can leave notes, comments or feedback directly on the whiteboard.
Safety and compliance: Strong security measures and compliance with industry standards to protect sensitive information.
Mobile accessibility: With the mobile app, you can access and edit your boards on the go.
The main goal of Miro is to create an interactive and dynamic space where team members can collaborate in real time. It facilitates creativity, collaboration and visualization of ideas, overcoming the barriers often associated with traditional or remote work environments.
Confluence Whiteboards vs Miro
User interface:
The user interface of Confluence Whiteboards and Miro is similar, but Miro offers more tools and options for editing your whiteboard. Confluence whiteboards stick to the basics, and ease of access for users seems to be a priority. When using Confluence Whiteboards, we noticed a few key differences from Miro. There is (still) no option to select fonts in whiteboards, so any text you add to your board will always be displayed in the same font.
Confluence Whiteboards UI.
Miro UI (Note the different text formatting options that can be applied within a single element).
In general, the Confluence Whiteboards user interface can be described as very simple, but helpful and easy to navigate. You can insert differently shaped text boxes, connecting lines, sticky notes, free floating text, lines, stamps, stickers and image attachments.
It's also very nice that you can preview Jira tickets directly on your whiteboard and change agent, description, status, etc.. All without having to navigate to Jira.
Integrations
Confluence Whiteboards is directly integrated with Confluence and Jira, which is perhaps its strongest feature. It's easy to launch your ideas and design collaboratively, and easier to stay in the Atlassian ecosystem.
Conversely Miro integrate well with external tools such as Slack, Zoom, and Atlassian Tools. In addition, Miro allows embedding technical diagrams from providers like Gliffy or draw.io, which Confluence whiteboards do not yet offer.
Collaboration features
There is no official information about how many users are simultaneously in Confluence Whiteboards to be able to work, as it is still in the beta phase. However, our preliminary tests show that at least ten users can work on whiteboards without problems.
Together with Miro up to 100 users can work on the same board at the same time. Guest access is also relatively easy with Miro, and you can include your customers on your Miro boards.
Pricing
Confluence Whiteboards will be free, from the Free to the Enterprise level. free, from the Free to the Enterprise level.
Miro has a free version that offers limited features for multi-board collaboration and is only suitable for testing the tool. To get the full package, you need to opt for the "Business" level, which requires you to pay $20 per month per user.
Support and community
This point goes to Confluence Whiteboards, when it is officially released. The Atlassian community is larger and more sophisticated than Miro's, and you won't have trouble finding people who know how to use whiteboards and understand the tool's potential. However, the main advantage is that Atlassian's support and community go far beyond whiteboards. Many Atlassian partners like us focus not only on the technical aspect of a tool, but on solving business challenges using Atlassian tools like Confluence Whiteboards.
Miro also has an active community forum and many resources to help you optimize your usage.
Pros and cons of Confluence whiteboards or Miro
Confluence Whiteboards
Pro`s
Tight integration with the Atlassian ecosystem
Easy to use, with a simple but functional UI
Included in all Confluence (Cloud) versions
Contra
(Still) no possibility to import Miro boards
Limited formatting options
No special applications or integrations
Still in beta phase
Miro
Pro`s
Powerful, easy-to-use visual collaboration tool
Hundreds of third-party integrations (Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Atlassian, Figma, Adobe CC, Sketch, etc.)
Hundreds of free templates, API access, and developer tools to develop your own apps
Dedicated apps available for desktop and mobile
Contra
High prices for small teams
Use cases for Confluence Whiteboards & Miro
So, when should you use Miro, and when should you try Confluence Whiteboards?
Confluence Whiteboards (in its current state) is best suited for teams that work extensively with Jira and Confluence and have no problem with their Miro boards not being able to migrate yet. If your team is new to whiteboarding, you should try Confluence Whiteboards and see if it meets all your needs. Especially if you are a Confluence Cloud user, as mentioned above.
Miro is best suited for teams that take visual collaboration tools seriously and need integrations with other tools like Gliffy, or want to do quick, rough prototyping of websites and app layouts.
Conclusion
Confluence Whiteboards
Miro
Price
From the free Confluence version to the Enterprise version included
Free version available Premium version from $10/user/month
So is it officially time to retire your Miro boards and switch to Confluence whiteboards? Not quite. If your team uses Miro extensively, there is currently no easy way to migrate all Miro boards to whiteboards, making the switch difficult for many people. Also, many use the official "Miro for Confluence" add-on, which allows you to easily embed Miro into your Confluence.
If you are new to visual collaboration and your team uses Confluence and Jira extensively, is Confluence Whiteboards the tool of your choice. All the basic features are there, and more will follow (especially integrations with other tools like Gliffy) to further expand the functionality.
What do you think? Have you already tested Confluence Whiteboards or are you interested in testing Whiteboards for Confluence yourself?
Want to increase the return on investment (ROI) of your Atlassian license cost by adding more use cases? Contact your Atlassian experts to learn how you can realize the full potential of your Atlassian Confluence license.
In today's fast-paced digital world, effective project management is the cornerstone of successful business operations. But how do you choose the right tool to manage your projects, streamline your workflows, and increase your team's productivity? Dive into the world of Jira - a set of powerful tools that will transform the way you work. In this comprehensive guide, we'll look in detail at the different products, Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Jira Work Management. At the end of this article, you'll be able to make an informed decision about which Jira product is the best fit for your team.
Have you ever wondered how software development teams manage complex projects, meet tight deadlines, and deliver high-quality software? The secret lies in Jira Software, a project management tool designed specifically for software teams.
Key features of Jira software
Designed to support agile methodologies, Jira software provides a flexible platform for planning, tracking, and releasing software. With Jira Software allows you to create user stories, plan sprints, and distribute tasks within your software team. It offers multiple boards (Kanban & Agile) to track work, swimlanes to streamline project view based on predefined filters, and Agile reports to track project progress and address issues.
What sets Jira software apart, however, is its deep integration with other development platforms. It connects seamlessly with popular platforms like Bitbucket and GitHub, allowing developers to view relevant Git commits, branches, and pull requests directly in the context of a Jira software story or bug.
The benefits of Jira software
The benefits of Jira software extend beyond the development team. By streamlining the software development process, Jira shortens time-to-market and helps your company stay competitive. It facilitates collaboration by allowing team members to share information, discuss tasks, and resolve issues quickly. This not only improves the quality of the software, but also increases team productivity.
In addition, agile reports provide valuable insights into your team's performance, helping you identify bottlenecks and make data-driven decisions. Whether you want to track sprint completion with a burndown chart or understand the team's velocity over time, Jira software gives you the data you need to optimize your processes.
Is Jira software right for your team?
If your team is in software development and uses agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban, Jira is the ideal tool for you. It's designed to support the unique workflows of software teams, making it an excellent choice for developers, testers, and project managers in the technology industry. But remember, Jira's strength lies not only in its features, but also in how well it fits into your team's processes and workflows.
Bonus Tip: If you use Jira software, you can also use Jira Work Management projects.
Jira Service Management
Source: Atlassian
Next we turn to Jira Service Management a platform that optimizes interaction between departments or between the service support team and customers.
Key features of Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management is an IT service management (ITSM) solution that brings together IT support and project management. It has a user-friendly customer portal where users can submit requests, a powerful SLA tracking system, and a knowledge base for self-service support.
One of Jira Service Management's standout features is its built-in ITIL-certified processes. ITIL, or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a set of best practices for ITSM that focuses on aligning IT services with business needs. With Jira Service Management, you can leverage these best practices to deliver high-quality IT services.
The benefits of Jira Service Management
Implementing Jira Service Management can lead to significant improvements in your IT service delivery. By providing a centralized platform for request management, it ensures that no request falls through the cracks. The SLA tracking system helps maintain a high quality of service, while the knowledge base reduces the burden on your service desk by enabling users to resolve common issues themselves.
In addition, Jira Service Management facilitates cross-divisional collaboration between IT and other departments. This not only leads to faster problem resolution, but also promotes a culture of transparency and collaboration within the organization.
Another important advantage of Jira Service Management is the asset management (database). This can also be used well internally.
An example: A new employee needs work equipment
The employee fills out a form, whereupon a ticket is created. HR approves this ticket and the laptop is shipped. The laptop is then documented as an asset in JSM.
Link with Confluence
Jira Service Management can be directly linked to a ConfluenceKnowledgebase . When employees submit a service request and the requested topic already exists in the knowledge base, the system provides articles from the knowledge base that address the issue based on the request. This often allows service requests to be resolved in advance without having to open a new ticket or call in a service representative.
Is Jira Service Management right for your team?
If your team is responsible for delivering or supporting IT services, Jira Service Management is an indispensable tool. It's designed specifically to meet the needs of IT service teams, making it the ideal choice for IT managers, service desk agents, and anyone involved in delivering IT services. Whether you're a small business with a single IT support staff or a large enterprise with a dedicated IT department, Jira Service Management can transform the way you deliver IT services.
Jira Work Management
Source: Atlassian
Jira Software and Jira Service Management focuses primarily on software and IT teams. But then what tools should other teams in an organization use? This is where Jira Work Management into play.
Key Features of Jira Work Management
Jira Work Management is a project management tool designed for business and operations teams. It offers a number of features, such as a work tracking board, built-in calendar, forms, and pre-built project templates. Whether you're planning a marketing campaign, tracking HR tasks, or managing a finance project, Jira Work Management is the right tool for the job.
One of the unique features of Jira Work Management is the customizable workflows. You can customize the workflows to your team processes to ensure that the tool fits seamlessly into your existing processes.
The benefits of Jira Work Management
Jira Work Management can significantly increase your team's productivity. By providing a single platform for scheduling, tracking, and managing work, it eliminates the need for multiple tools, reduces complexity, and saves time. Customizable workflows ensure that the tool adapts to your team, not the other way around.
In addition, Jira Work Management promotes transparency and accountability in the team. Everyone has a clear overview of their tasks, deadlines and responsibilities, which leads to better coordination and collaboration.
Is Jira Work Management right for your team?
If your team works in business areas such as HR, Marketing, Finance or Design, Jira Work Management is the right tool for you. Atlassian developed it to support the specific workflows of business teams. That's why it's a great option for project managers, team leaders, and anyone involved in managing business projects. Jira Service Management is also used by teams outside of IT, such as human resources and materials management.
In addition, Jira Work Management can be used without much configuration effort. However, the functional scope of JWM is significantly more limited compared to Jira, which is why many of our customers prefer to use Jira software.
Take action: Talk to our Atlassian consultants
Now that you've gained a comprehensive understanding of the various Jira products, it's time to act. Our Atlassian consultants are ready to help you choose the right Jira product for your team, assist you with setup and customization, and provide ongoing support to help you get the most out of your Jira tool. Don't hesitate - contact us today and revolutionize the way your team works!
A comparison: Jira Software vs Jira Service Management vs Jira Work Management
Finally, let's take a look at a comparison table that highlights the key features and benefits of each Jira product:
Jira Software
Jira Service Management
Jira Work Management
Best for
Software development teams
IT Service Teams
Business and operations teams
Features
Agile boards, user stories, sprints, Agile reports.
Customer portal, queues, SLAs, forms
Work tracking board, calendar, forms, project templates
Streamlined IT service delivery, improved customer satisfaction, improved operational efficiency.
Effective project management, improved team collaboration, timely delivery of work
Teams
Developer, tester, project manager in the tech industry
IT managers, service desk agents, IT service delivery teams
Project manager, team leader, HR, marketing, finance, design, legal, sales, and more.
A comparison of Jira, Jira Service Management and Jira Work Management
Remember, the right Jira product for your team depends on your specific needs and workflows. By choosing the right tool, you can empower your team, optimize your workflows, and drive business success.
Use Jira, Jira Service Management or Jira Work Management efficiently
You want to use Jira, Jira Service Management or Jira Work Management efficiently in your company and need support with setup, integration into existing tools or consulting on a specific use case?
It's April 2023 and for TeamXALT, it's off to Las Vegas for Atlassian's Team23. This special event and conference is all about the latest developments in the Atlassian ecosystem, including new products, partner apps and services. The Atlassian team gives keynote presentations on the latest developments, and there's also a forum for discussion and breakout sessions for all attendees.
What did we do on Team23?
"We came to Team23 because we wanted to learn about the latest developments in the Atlassian ecosystem and have a glimpse of what happens next." (Mario S., Marketing) Seeing the exciting developments and being here at the conference in Las Vegas, "to talk to all the customers and partners and see the new solutions; you have so many ideas in your head all at once." (Philipp G., CEO & Founder XALT).
At the conference we learned a lot about upcoming products and the announced improvements. We are looking forward to testing and using them in the coming year.
And as Philipp said, "This is just the beginning", and we are ready to learn more and take XALT to the next level.
Work hard, play hard
But not to forget, we didn’t “just” travel to Las Vegas for pure business reasons but also to grow even closer together as a team. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be here with a large part of TeamXALT, having fun and making contacts.
Remote work is part of our DNA, but it also comes with a catch: we can't always see each other, and building team cohesion can be hard. However, being a modern company also means that our team can work from anywhere and have the opportunity to meet in person on a regular basis.
For these two reasons, the trip to Las Vegas for Team23 was a must and something we plan to repeat in the years to come.
We think differently
At XALT, we think differently. We want to build a team that sticks together and where everyone has the same goal in mind when it comes to tackling demanding challenges. At XALT, we don’t just consult our customers; we see ourselves as a member of our customer’s team and autonomously solve pressing questions or problems for them.
We are always looking to learn about the latest and greatest technologies and approaches to overcome difficult challenges for our clients. As our CEO and founder says, "TeamXALT is a special mix of people. It’s not only about the technology; it’s about helping our clients to succeed in their industry."
We even go one step further: We can only overcome difficult challenges if our team is successful. That's why we want them to be happy and not only work hard, but also party and have fun sometimes.
XALT is "a great place to work (...) with lots of challenges, but we never forget that work should be fun too." (Michael Ellis, Management Consultant)
But enough talking. We all know images, or in this case, videos, say more than a thousand words. Check out how we at XALT take in a whole week in Las Vegas (and the conference, of course, ????).
Here's a little teaser: Helicopter ???? plus Grand Canyon ????️ = Once-in-a-lifetime experience (Episode 4).
Become part of TeamXALT
We are always looking for new people to join our team.
If you're open-minded, enjoy working with the latest technologies, and are an expert in your field, join TeamXALT.
Atlassians' recent Team23 event in Las Vegas was an impressive showcase of innovative products, integrations and powerful updates aimed at redefining the future of the workplace. In this article, you'll learn which Atlassian product innovations were unveiled at Team23. Among them Atlassian Intelligence, Confluence Whiteboards, Databases, Atlassian Together, Atlassian Analytics, Beacon, BYOK, Jira Product Discovery, OpenDevOps and Compass.
From revolutionizing data management to improving team collaboration with artificial intelligence. Read on to learn more about the potential of these new solutions and how they can benefit your teams.
Atlassian Intelligence - AI in Confluence and Jira
AI is on the rise and is already being used in numerous products. It was only a matter of time before Atlassian introduced it into Jira and Confluence.
What is Atlassian Intelligence?
No matter whether you work with ConfluenceJira Software or Jira Service Management, Atlassian Intelligence helps you with your daily tasks: Meeting summaries, defining new tasks, and even writing responses.
Source: Atlassian
One of the main benefits of Atlassian Intelligence is that it provides institutional knowledge for Atlassian Cloud products, so users don't have to wonder what certain terms or concepts mean. Atlassian AI finds them if someone has already explained them in your Confluence knowledge base.
Another interesting feature of Atlassian Intelligence is that it understands natural language queries and provides instant answers. As a user, you can ask questions just like you would ask a teammate, and the AI will respond with helpful information. Basically, ChatGPT for your Confluence.
Atlassian Intelligence also lets you perform queries, or searches, like a human. It converts queries from natural language to JQL or SQL, which makes it easier to work with Jira Cloud products.
Atlassian Intelligence also provides virtual agents for Jira Service Management that are available 24/7 on Slack and Microsoft Teams to help employees immediately, at any time. This means less waiting and less work for users who need help quickly.
Everyone loves whiteboarding to gather ideas and collaborate with colleagues on new ideas or pressing issues. Until now, we had to resort to a physical whiteboard or digital solutions like Miro use
Source: Atlassian
But now this (and more) is possible with Confluence.
Just like Miro, you can collaborate in real time, illustrate your ideas with stickies, lines, sections, and more, and share stamps, polls, and timers with your teammates.
With Whiteboard in Confluence, you can now turn your ideas into actions. This is done through the deep integration of Whiteboard functionality in Jira and Confluence.
Let's say you found a new set of tasks in your brainstorming session that you want to work on and track. With Confluence Whiteboards, you can now turn your stickies into Jira essues and/or Confluence pages, link Jira essues together to schedule tasks, and edit Jira essues and Confluence pages without leaving your whiteboard.
Who doesn't love to manage all their work in one place? With Confluence Databases, it's not just a dream, it's a reality.
Work aspects like Jira tasks, Confluence pages, due dates, statuses and much more are under your control in one place. It's the perfect solution to stay on top of all your work and make sure it's organized and under control.
What makes Confluence databases special is the live synchronization feature between databases and pages. Imagine always having the most up-to-date information at your fingertips, without tedious manual updates. A time-saver that guarantees you're always up to date.
Confluence Databases gives you the possibility to display your databases as tables, maps or boards. In addition, you can create a personalized view. Simply filter and sort the entries as you like. This makes your data easier to interpret and keeps you informed and up to date.
If efficiency and practicality are your top priorities, Confluence Databases is the right solution for you. User-friendly, powerful, and packed with features that help you get more done in less time, it's time to try Confluence Databases.
If you're looking for a tool that improves team collaboration and workflows across your organization, Atlassian Together could be just what you need. This powerful platform is designed to increase productivity by supporting team-oriented workflows and enabling seamless collaboration between decentralized teams, business and software units. Atlassian Together supports a flexible and efficient work environment that ensures remote working is as effective as on-site working.
Source Atlassian
One of the coolest features of Atlassian Together is its support for flexible task management and cross-team collaboration at scale.
This means you can combine structured and flexible working methods to create the best system for your team. What's more, Atlassian tools connect business and software teams to support alignment from development to launch.
Another benefit of Atlassian Together is corporate-grade security. The platform continuously tracks high-risk activities to monitor potential threats to the organization and ensure your team's data is always protected.
Atlassian Together includes a number of useful tools, such as Confluence, Jira Work Management, and Atlas. These tools help with task management, project management, and clear communication, making it easier for your team to collaborate effectively so they can get more done.
Are you looking for a tool to visualize data from multiple sources and gain insights into your team's performance? Then Atlassian Analytics might be just what you need. With this powerful tool, you can create comprehensive visualizations of data from various sources (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets), including Atlassian products.
Source Atlassian
Atlassian Analytics includes preset templates for service management, asset management, content management, and DevOps use cases, making it easy for users to get started. It also provides a powerful SQL visual interface for custom data analytics and multiple data visualization options so you can create the perfect visualization for your needs.
Atlassian Analytics supports database links to query non-Atlassian data sources such as Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and others. This means you can use data from a wide range of sources to create comprehensive visualizations.
Atlassian Analytics also provides collaboration features that allow users to embed and comment on diagrams and manage permissions at the diagram level. This ensures that your team can collaborate effectively and make data-driven decisions.
Atlassian Analytics leverages data from multiple Atlassian products to accelerate decision making across DevOps, IT service management and business teams. The service connects seamlessly with the Atlassian Data Lake for data sources, allowing users to configure which products and instances to pull data from.
Atlassian has unveiled Beacon, a software solution to detect, investigate and respond to risky activity in its cloud products. Beacon uses automated alerts, comprehensive investigation tools and response mechanisms to protect organizations from threats such as unauthorized data leakage, unauthorized access and insecure configurations.
Source: Atlassian
Key features:
Automatic alerts for unusual activity in Jira, Confluence and the Atlassian Admin Hub.
Detailed risk assessment capabilities, including user location, past alerts, and recent activity.
Optimized threat management through alert detail information, status tracking and SIEM forwarding.
Integration with Teams, Slack and SIEM to route alerts directly to the appropriate teams.
Protect against unauthorized information leakage with alerts on bulk exports, audit log exports, and external synchronization risks.
Identify high-risk user behavior at scale, with alerts for suspicious searches, unusual logins, policy changes and more.
App access monitoring with alerts for app installations and unsafe configurations.
Beacon by Atlassian provides a comprehensive enterprise security solution that enables instant detection, investigation and response to potential threats across Atlassian cloud products.
Atlassian's cloud products already have world-class security measures in place, and customer data is protected at all times by Atlassian-managed keys in the WS Key Management Service (KMS).
As part of Team23, Bring your own key (BYOK) encryption was announced. An upgrade that gives you the ability to encode your Atlassian Cloud product data with keys that are securely stored in your own AWS account. This means you can manage your keys and revoke access whenever you see fit, whether for your end users or for Atlassian systems.
The advantages of BYOK:
Less risk: BYOK is like an additional security lock for your sensitive data, giving you an extra layer of protection.
Improved data management: Because your encoding keys are hosted in your AWS account, you can log and monitor access through AWS CloudTrail.
Increased control: Say goodbye to vendor dependency when it comes to blocking access. With BYOK, you're in charge.
As a product manager, Jira Product Discovery is an invaluable tool that helps you organize, prioritize, and communicate your product ideas and insights.
Source: Atlassian
Imagine having all your ideas, user feedback, and product opportunities from different sources collected in one place and being able to evaluate them effectively.
With this tool, you can say goodbye to shared spreadsheets and presentations. Instead, enjoy the simplicity of custom lists and views to prioritize ideas based on impact, effort, and targeting.
Another outstanding feature of Jira Product Discovery is that it promotes seamless team collaboration. You'll appreciate the clear communication facilitated by custom roadmaps and views that change the way you think about product roadmaps.
And thanks to seamless integration with Jira software, you'll be well-informed from development to delivery and can link your product roadmaps and ideas to Epics for a holistic view.
Essentially, Jira Product Discovery combines the features of spreadsheets and PowerPoint into one easy-to-use tool that saves you from using third-party integration tools. It's your all-in-one solution for efficient product management.
Compass provides a unified platform for developers to simplify and optimize their work on distributed software architectures. Imagine having a single platform where you can monitor your technical architecture through the catalog feature and apply technical best practices at scale using DevOps Health. This supports your team's autonomy and ensures that the components you work on are secure and reliable.
Source: Atlassian
Compass improves the user experience for development teams through its extensibility engine that connects information across your entire development toolchain. With real-time updates on component activity and dependencies, you get a consolidated view across development tools. Compass also provides an overarching view of all the components your team is working on, showing their dependencies and responsibilities.
The platform's extensive integration capabilities give you options for customizing components, teams, or global systems. Compass is more than just a tool; it is your partner in creating secure, compliant and efficient software architectures.
As a Jira user, you know how important clear communication and collaboration between team members is to ensure successful project completion. That's where Jira Announcement Banners come in - a powerful tool to communicate important information and updates to your team members.
Jira announcement banners are a great way to grab your team's attention and let them know about important changes, upcoming deadlines, and new releases. Whether you're a project manager, a team leader, or a developer, the right announcement banner can help you communicate effectively with your team and keep everyone on the same page.
In this article, we'll introduce you to some of the best examples of Jira announcement banners and show you how you can use them to improve communication and collaboration within your team. We'll also discuss the benefits of announcement banners and give you tips on how to create effective banners to get your message across. So, without further ado, let's explore different examples of Jira announcement banners!
Read this articlel to learn how to add a Jira announcement banner to your Jira and add links.
Jira announcement banner examples
Project updates
Keep your team informed about the latest project updates and changes with an announcement banner. Whether it's a new release, a critical bug fix, or a change in project scope, an announcement banner lets you communicate these updates to your team in a timely and effective manner.
Example: "Attention team members: next week there will be a new version. Please complete all necessary testing and bug fixes by Friday. Let's work together to ensure a successful release!"
Announcements for new team members
Has a new team member joined your project? Or is a team member leaving you? An announcement banner is a great way to introduce new team members and say goodbye to departing ones. It's a great way to build team cohesion and make sure everyone knows who's on the team.
Example: "Welcome to our new team member, John! John will be working with us as a developer, taking care of the backend infrastructure. Let's give him a warm welcome and help him get up to speed."
Critical problems
Sometimes urgent issues can arise that require immediate attention. An announcement banner can be used to alert team members to these issues and give them guidance on how to resolve them. This can help prevent further problems and keep your project on track.
Example: "Urgent: We have identified a critical security issue with the login. Please review and implement the suggested fixes immediately to prevent further security breaches."
Deadlines
An announcement banner can be used to remind team members of upcoming deadlines. This can ensure that everyone is aware of the schedule and can work together to achieve the project goals.
Example: "Just a friendly reminder that the final deadline for the UX redesign project is coming up. Please complete all necessary tasks by the end of Wednesday so that we can stay on schedule with the project.
Company updates
In addition to project-specific updates, an announcement banner can also be used to communicate company-wide updates, such as policy changes or new initiatives. In this way, team members are informed about the broader context of their work and a sense of connection to the entire organization is fostered.
Example: "Attention team members: effective immediately, we are implementing a new work hours policy. Please review the policy and adjust your work hours as necessary."
Training and development
Do you have a new training or professional development opportunity that your team members can attend? An announcement banner can help publicize these opportunities and encourage team members to sign up and improve their skills.
Example: "Exciting news! We've partnered with a leading training provider to offer a series of professional development courses to all team members. Check out the course catalog and sign up for the courses that interest you!"
Product updates
If you are working on a product development project, an announcement banner can be used to inform customers or end users about updates. This way you can keep them informed about new features, bug fixes and other important changes to the product.
Example: "Great news for our users! We've just released a major update to our mobile app that includes some new features and bug fixes. Check it out and let us know what you think!"
Safety warnings
Suppose there is a security vulnerability or other security-related issue. In this case, an announcement banner can be used to alert team members to the problem and provide guidance on how to resolve it. This can help prevent further damage and ensure that everyone is taking the necessary steps to protect the project and the organization.
Example: "Important: We have detected a phishing scam targeting our organization. Please read the warning and take the necessary measures to protect your accounts and data."
Success Stories
Sometimes it's important to celebrate the successes of your team and project. An announcement banner can be used to share success stories and recognize team members for their hard work and contributions. This can boost morale and create a positive team culture.
Example: "Congratulations to our team for completing the project on time and under budget! This was a true team effort and we are grateful for everyone's hard work and dedication. Let's celebrate our success!"
Opportunities for collaboration
Finally, an announcement banner can also be used to highlight collaboration opportunities such as hackathons, design sprints, or other cross-functional projects. This can help break down silos and encourage team members to work together on innovative solutions.
Example: "Calling all designers, developers and project managers! We're launching a design sprint next week to come up with ideas for our next product release. Sign up to be part of the team and help us create something great!"
System updates or downtime
If you're planning a system upgrade or maintenance shutdown, you can use an announcement banner to communicate the details and minimize disruption to team members or end users. This way, you can ensure that everyone is aware of the schedule and can plan their work accordingly.
Example: "Attention team members: we will be performing a scheduled system update on Saturday, March 20 from 12pm to 3pm. During this time, the system will be unavailable. Please plan your work accordingly and contact the IT team with any questions or concerns."
Summary: Jira announcement banner
Overall, Jira announcement banners are an effective tool for improving communication and collaboration within your team. By using clear and concise wording, highlighting important information, and placing the banner in a highly visible location, you can ensure that your message is seen and heard by everyone who needs to know. Try it out and see how your team and project can benefit from an announcement banner.
Wondering how we code and develop software at XALT? In this blog post, we share some of our guiding principles when it comes to software development of any kind. We were inspired by none other than Joel Spolsky (former CEO of Stack Overflow, one of the creators of Trello, among other things), who described the most important steps of programming back in 2000.
Some things have changed and become simpler since then, but the core principles still apply in 2021 and are a quick and easy way to find out if your SaaS business model is actually as good as you think it is, or if it's reaching its full potential.
If you are in a management or team leader position in a software development company, you should ask yourself the following questions and answer "yes":
(From the point of view of job seekers in the software sector, it is of course always good to know whether your potential employer has its finger on the pulse of the times. )
1. version control - do you use it?
Of course we do, we don't live in the 90s anymore after all. If you want to track changes to your code, manage them, and enable your programmers to collaborate more effectively, version control is critical.
For us, a Git workflow is the be-all and end-all, but depending on the type of project, we use feature branching, continuous delivery, sometimes even Gitflow. Among other things, we use Atlassian's own Bitbucket, as well as GitLab and GitHub Cloud. We place the greatest value on automation.
2. can you create builds in one step?
Yes, and we can even go one better; by using Docker and Bamboo, GitHub Actions and GitLab Pipelines, this is always automatically built for our projects. By using such tools, you can easily automate the integration of code from multiple stakeholders into single builds (keyword Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery).
Yes, daily builds are your friend in identifying problems. But why stop there? With CI/CD and automated testing, you can even deploy multiple builds per day!
We always create daily builds for our customers and also keep test servers ready for them.
4. do you have a bug database?
Yes! Instead of writing bugs on stone tablets, sticky notes, or just from memory, we chose Jira for effective, powerful, and versatile bug tracking. We even went so far as to Integrate Jira with other bug-tracking solutions and never lose sight of a bug. Another great thing about Jira is the easy integration with knowledge bases like Confluence, where you can document all bugs and issues in detail.
5. do you fix bugs before writing new code?
Yes, we always maintain our technical debts. What are technical debts? Glad you asked! We'll go into more detail about what technical debt means to businesses and programmers alike; you can here read all about it.
Essentially, it's very useful to fix bugs before writing new code. Among other things, this avoids having to go back in time in a software project to figure out why the code doesn't work today. The more time passes, the harder it becomes to remember where and when a bug first occurred. Therefore, the methodology of continuous documentation is a great way to achieve this, apart from fixing bugs as soon as possible
6. do you have a current schedule?
Always. We live agile software development every day, so the notion of an actual schedule inherently applies to everything we do.
Our tool of choice on this topic is Jira, which can make planning and managing projects as simple as possible and as complex as necessary.
7. do you have a specification?
You betcha. A product specification is basically a blueprint that describes exactly what the finished product will do, what its core features are, who it's for, and so on.
To make this easily editable and shareable, we use Confluence and easy integration with JIRA issues, as well as a team of highly skilled and smart cookies who can write technical specs for a given issue like it was your grandmother's cookie recipe.
8. do your developers have quiet working conditions?
Oh yes, you should provide your programmers (and all other employees of your company) with pleasant and quiet working conditions.
Whether it's in one of our great offices or at home - if you're work for Team XALTyou have the choice of where you work from.
Even after the pandemic, enjoy the benefits of home office and remote working. Still too noisy? We can also outfit you with noise cancelling headphones to help you stay in the "zone" even better.
Nine. Do you have any testers?
It's important to have testers on your team. How else are you going to notice a bug or a missing feature in your product? When your customers tell you there's a problem? Yes, that's something to avoid, and testing your software can really help.
At XALT, we use automated tests for our builds in addition to unit tests, for example with Jira and Bamboo from Atlassian. With XRAY, tests can even present in beautiful front ends. You can read all about it here: Automatic test management with XRAY. Also, Selenium is another tool of choice to test solutions from the user perspective.
10. do you do QA testing?
We do that, with the help of Jira and XRAY. You can read more about it in this Blog post read.
11. do you use the best tools money can buy?
Always. Choosing the equipment and tools of your choice is the best way to make everyone in your company feel comfortable. And let's face it - what better way to bribe programmers than to give them all the tools, software, and hardware they need to be happy (aside from decent compensation)?
So when you work with Team XALT, all you have to do is tell us what kind of gear you need and we'll take care of it.
Do you agree with our principles and the way we work? Let us know, and if you're interested, learn firsthand how your company can leverage a few core principles to stand out from competing companies in software development and beyond.
If you are a developer looking for a new challenge in a company that makes working with and on software a pleasure. By following a few basic but very important and strong principles like the ones above, feel free to send us your resume and enjoy a smooth and no obligation hiring process.
Become part of the team!
Work with us on exciting projects and solutions for current, important IT questions in the areas of Atlassian, DevOps and Cloud technologies.
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