Jira is officially an agile project management system. Even when Atlassian states Jira does ‘mixed’ PM, they still mean Scrumban or Kanplan. Meanwhile, various non-software industries increasingly rely on Jira and these organizations tend to practice both waterfall and agile methodologies. Let’s see how to maintain a hybrid, cross-methodology environment in a single Jira instance.
Unlike Atlassian, when we say ‘hybrid’, we think of a mixed agile and waterfall approach.
A multi-methodology project management app
When you install Jira, you are given the choice of simple Scrum and Kanban boards, and that’s ok since Jira grew out of the extremely agile software development industry. After all, Jira is a very powerful issue tracker or task manager. If you’re serious about project management and you seek the hybrid – agile and waterfall environment, you’ll need an add-on from Atlassian Marketplace at some point. A single all-in-one project management app is probably the better choice than a set of plugins. Not just for the sake of cost optimization, but also because all the modules will easily talk to each other. For instance, work breakdown structure will be well integrated with teams, resources, Gantt charts, risks, and reporting.
BigPicture is one such cross-methodology, well-integrated, powerful extension for Jira.
Will new hybrid (agile-waterfall) Jira apps emerge in 2021 or later?
Single-module plugins dominate Atlassian Marketplace. Cross-methodology, all-in-one apps that have both agile and classic tools – Portfolios, Scope, Roadmap, Board, Gantt chart, Resources, Risks, Reporting – are in minority. One way to find them is to google ‘agile at scale atlassian’ keyphrase. We are aware of three to five competitors of BigPicture, and you may come across ‘BigPicture vs. …’ comparisons. How is BigPicture different from the competition? While everybody is officially methodology-agnostic, having evaluated all of them you might conclude that BigPicture is the most ‘diversified’ program. BigPicture was originally built around the Gantt chart, although with such modern additions, as agile iterations overlay. Our approach has evolved and BP has now mature Roadmap, Board 2.0 and agile Reporting. [Boxes] make BigPicture an even more universal app.
So, back to the question: will a new powerfull, multiple-methodology project portfolio management app for Jira be born in 2021, 2022 or later? It’s a lot of work to develop such a product. It literally takes years. Even Atlassian purchased the overpriced AgileCraft rather than develop Jira Align from scratch ;)
Additional reading: How to have a hybrid project in Jira?
Are you Agile, Waterfall or Hybrid?
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Scope, Gantt chart, Roadmap, Board, Resources, Risks, Reports and more.
Feb 2021
Firstly, what is the true cost of PPM software implementation? Traditional vs. hidden costs. How to reduce the latter? Read more
Feb 2021
Secondly, is Gantt chart an agile tool? Check three applications of modern Gantt charts in agile management.
Jan 2021
Thridly, deciding between BigPicture and BigPicture Enterprise? Check 6 signs your organization should upgrade to BigPicture Enterprise.