Jira: Increasing Visibility
Evaluating the Functionality of a Product
Role
UX Designer | UX Researcher
Subject
Jira & Atlassian
Methods
Heuristic Analysis, Contextual Inquiry, Interactive Prototypes
Project Background
Atlassian is a global enterprise software company that develops products primarily for software developers, project managers, and content management. Under the Atlassian umbrella is Jira, is a product developed by Atlassian that focuses more specifically on allowing users and companies to track bug, issues, and agile project management for their projects.
The goal of this case study was to advocate for developers and improve their workflows and experience by evaluating the current functions offered by Jira and propose ways in which these could be enhanced or offer new solutions to simplify developers’ experiences with Jira.
Methodology & Research
This case study to aimed to evaluate and identify existing usability issues within an already established product. I (along with the other two members of the research team) went in with the goal of better understanding of users’ mental models, and to do this the first step in gaining insights was by conducting remote contextual inquiries with experts that use Jira in their work.
As stated before, our main goal was to to gain insights on how they utilize this software, as well as what aspects of Jira they felt could be improved or more catered to their specific needs.
Our primary user story followed a Front-End developer that uses Jira in their day-to-day workflow at a digital consultancy, and communicates with other developers, designers, and quality assurance testers.
Left: The research team conducting a contextual inquiry for a Front-End Developer.
Contextual Inquiry
Based on this inquiry, as well as inquiries and interviews with other users, I was able to identify several findings regarding what the user considered to be positive or pain points, which can be found below:
Key Insights
Users considered the overall format and workflow of Jira to be consistent with industry standards and as something they were used to, did not advocate for large scale changes, mainly cosmetic fixes
Some feedback about the amount of buttons and icons on the screen that were actually relevant to their job, and that they rarely used more than 3 of the options for their role as a Front-End Developer
Said extra icons were becoming noise to them during work
Commenting on issues is a core function and communication method within the app, felt that the visibility of the could be improved
Also expressed that Jira sometimes switches between modal and side-drawer views, which they felt was confusing and annoying and wanted consistency by only showing the modal view
Another user requested the implementation of an issue templates for recurring issue types, to reduce the amount of time to create similar issues
Prototyping
Lo-Fi Sketches
With the information from the contextual inquiry in hand, I worked on how to synthesize these insights into designs that met the requirements set by the users. Like users mentioned: it was clear that as an industry standard program, Jira did not currently need an extensive overhaul as that could inconvenience users already used to the way Jira works.
Instead, I wanted to simplify the overall board view within the app, and accentuate the features and buttons that our users used the most.
Above: highlighting and identifying which buttons were the most important to our user. Noting which elements could be rearranged and how the other views and buttons could still be available to the user but remain out of sight.
Above: drafting of the issue template functionality. Ideally a modal would provide the option to start from new or start from template, and the issue creation window would include the ability to save the current issue format as a template for later use.
The primary focus during the design process of the prototype in Figma was to simplify the board view, which was mentioned as the main view used by our Front-End Developer. At first, I simply wanted to reduce the noise on the screen for our user, but one point of discussion during our inquiry was how although our user didn’t typically find the other options essential to their work, their Project Manager might use all of them.
This led me to a different train of thought: rather than remove the other elements outright, it would be better to allow the users and projects to determine which views were relevant to their roles and switch roles on command. Referencing the official Atlassian Design System, I learned more about what other views and layouts were offered by Jira already, and opted to utilize the pre-existing framework by simply re-directing users to those from a drop-down menu based on their role.
As shown in the gallery below, selecting the role changes the side navigation menu, while still retaining the other options and views in an expandable menu option.
Interactive Prototype
In addition, another user request was to streamline the comments and improve their visibility. Currently in Jira, you have to click on the the task or issue, which will show you the summary, comments, who the task is assigned to, and other details.
In general, users didn’t express any grievances about this in particular, but since the visibility of the comments was a specific issue for some users, I thought an effective solution was to not only just make them more accessible right from the board view by allowing users to click on the comment button, but also have them separate from the rest of the information so it feels more readable. On top of that, I included the number of comments for that specific issue as a visual element so users can see which issues are receiving the most traffic and discussion.
Right: comment section modal view and icon on the task
Video Walkthrough
Conclusions
From the outset, users concerns with Jira could be boiled down to one simple factor: visibility. Users were relatively satisfied with the actual content and functionality of Jira, but it often came down to how easy it was to view and access the information they needed.
In creating modal views for the comments and issue templates, I attempted to put more of a spotlight on those features within Jira as they were cited as being some of the most important and widely used by our users.
Similarly, visibility can be improved by reducing the noise and density of visual elements on the screen, which I proposed could be achieved by relocating buttons and icons that aren’t used frequently in certain roles to a drop down menu so that they can still be accessible but also reduce the eye-strain for our Front-End user.
Visibility
Additional functions that were considered initially, but could not be implemented in time for the prototype were:
Adding a search function within the comments section, which would allow users to find specific feedback or code quickly
Increasing visibility within the automated emails that Jira sends, namely by highlighting the comment within a bubble element
If the project scope were to be expanded, the first course of action would be to conduct a user evaluation of the prototype to gather feedback.