What is Jiramancy?

The Jira application is an incredibly powerful tool - in addition to software development of every size and shape, I have used it to manage such diverse groups as marketing teams, wedding planners, library science teams and research groups. However, this puts a lot of pressure on the administration to not only understand the application itself, but all of the process, human, and other factors that need to be accounted for when implementing the best solution.

Consider a few examples:

• The word “project” implies that Jira projects should be used to track big chunks of aligned work…what most people call…well…a “project”. In most situations Jiramancers will probably suggest something else.

• The ease and ubiquity of email could give the impression that Jira’s email-to-ticket functionality is a great way to ingest work and works seamlessly with everything else the tool has to offer. Jiramancers would probably evaluate an API solution first; if that would not fit, they would implement a couple of solutions (like automation rules and mailbox organization) to make it more functional to use and manage.

• The concept of a “user group” is foundational across information technology systems and would seem like the obvious place to hang permissions in Jira and Confluence. Jiramancers know when to (and when to not) use them to maximize both manageability and ease-of-use.