Jira Product Discovery is a solid first attempt by Atlassian to get into the product management software game. It offers just enough features at the moment to support small to medium discovery efforts and it will likely get better fast.
To be really useful for large and corporate customers it still needs to get improved, especially in the team management and user rights domains. I'd also love to see more in terms of creating and communicating vision and strategy for a product. Some features to more actively include users/customers in the product discovery will also be appreciated.
So if you run your product delivery in Jira and don't have any tool for product discovery - give JPD a try. It's currently free and could already add much value to your product team.
2. WWW.TEST-N-TELL.COM
PRODUCT VISION, STRATEGY
AND GOALS
PRODUCT DISCOVERY
PRIORITISATION
PLANNING
PRODUCT DELIVERY
ROADMAP
INTEGRATIONS
SPECIAL SAUCE
THIS REVIEW WILL BE STRUCTURED ACCORDING TO THE
MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES PRODUCT MANAGERS AND
THEIR LEADERS ARE DOING TO CREATE DELIGHTFUL
PRODUCTS AND BRING SUCCESS TO THEIR BUSINESSES.
3. WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING AND COMMUNICATING PRODUCT VISION
AND STRATEGY JIRA PRODUCT DISCOVERY HAS PRETTY LIMITED OPTIONS.
THERE IS A DEDICATED FIELD FOR GOALS THAT YOU CAN CONFIGURE AS
YOU LIKE. LATER, YOU CAN SELECT ONE OR SEVERAL GOALS FOR YOUR
PRODUCT IDEAS OR DELIVERY STORIES.
Product vision, strategy and goals
4. HE MAIN PART OF THE APP IS THE "IDEAS" HUB. IN ESSENCE, IT'S A BACKLOG
THAT YOU CAN FILTER AND DISPLAY VARIOUS USEFUL INFORMATION. JPD
OFFERS REALLY FLEXIBLE AND POWERFUL VIEWS WHEN IT COMES TO
DISPLAYING IDEAS, ANY FIELD COULD BE DISPLAYED IN THE BACKLOG AND
YOU CAN ALSO GROUP ITEMS BY ALMOST ANY FIELD. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO
CREATE DISCOVERY BACKLOGS FOR DIFFERENT PRODUCTS, TEAMS, GOALS,
STATUSES...AND SO ON.
Product discovery
5. IDEAS IN JPD COULD BE PRIORITISED IN DIFFERENT WAYS. BY DEFAULT, THE
TOOL PROMOTES IMPACT VS EFFORT (A VARIATION OF VALUE/EFFORT). YOU
HAVE TWO VERY HELPFUL VIEWS FOR PRIORITISATION: THE "IMPACT
ASSESSMENT" AND "IMPACT VS EFFORT" GRAPH. IN THE FIRST ONE, YOU CAN
EASILY ESTIMATE THE POTENTIAL IMPACT YOUR IDEAS MIGHT HAVE ON
REACHING THE DEFINED GOALS. THE "IMPACT VS EFFORT" GRAPH
VISUALIZES YOUR BACKLOG AND MAKES IT EASIER TO TAKE DECISIONS.
Prioritisation
6. JDP OFFERS SOME POWERFUL WAYS YOU CAN PLAN YOUR WORK. BY
DEFAULT, YOU HAVE A KANBAN VIEW THAT YOU CAN ADJUST ACCORDING
TO YOUR NEEDS. WITH A BIT OF A SETUP, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PLAN YOUR
WORK FOR A TIME PERIOD, FOR PARTICULAR TEAMS, FOR REACHING
DEFINED OBJECTIVES OR IN OTHER WAYS SUITABLE FOR YOUR BUSINESS.
Planning
7. UNSURPRISINGLY, PRODUCT DELIVERY IS WHERE JPD EXCELS DUE TO BEING
A PART OF JIRA. DISCOVERED PRODUCT IDEAS COULD BE EASILY TURNED
INTO DELIVERY STORIES FOR YOUR ENGINEERS TO WORK ON. THE
PROGRESS OF DEVELOPMENT COULD BE TRACKED EFFORTLESSLY AND YOU
CAN USE THE SAME POWERFUL WORKFLOW CREATOR AS IN JIRA.
Product delivery
8. ROADMAPS COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES WHEN USING JPD. FROM THE
START, YOU'RE HAVING A SIMPLE "NOW/NEXT/SOMEDAY" COLUMN-STYLE
ROADMAP, BUT WITH A BIT OF CLICKING YOU MIGHT PRODUCE ALMOST
ANY ROADMAP TYPE YOU NEED. THE LEVEL OF DETAIL YOU SHOW ON THE
ROADMAP COULD VARY AS WELL. YOU CAN SELECT ANY FIELDS TO SHOW
ON THE ROADMAP AND GROUP ITEMS BY VARIOUS DIMENSIONS.
Roadmap
9. WHEN TALKING ABOUT INTEGRATIONS IN JPD WE NEED TO TAKE INTO
ACCOUNT POTENTIAL AND THE CURRENT STATE. JIRA AS A PRODUCT HAS
THOUSANDS OF INTEGRATIONS, ADD-ONS AND COMPLEMENTARY
PRODUCTS. HOWEVER, JPD IS NOT SUPPORTING MOST OF THOSE AT THE
MOMENT. THIS WILL DEFINITELY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE AND I AM SURE
THE TEAM AT ATLASSIAN IS WORKING ON IT AS I TYPE THIS. SO IF YOU CAN
WAIT - JPD WILL MOST LIKELY DELIVER BIG IN THE INTEGRATION DOMAIN,
BUT IF YOU NEED ROBUST INTEGRATIONS RIGHT NOW - YOU MIGHT NEED
TO CONSIDER OTHER TOOLS.
Integrations
10. THE UNIQUE VALUE OF JPD IS THAT IT'S NATIVELY INTEGRATED WITH JIRA
AND OTHER ATLASSIAN PRODUCTS. YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT
SYNCING THE DATA AND VARIOUS ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH DOING THIS.
YOUR PRODUCT DISCOVERY PROCESS IS ORGANICALLY COMBINED WITH
THE DELIVERY SO YOU CAN POTENTIALLY RUN YOUR ENTIRE PRODUCT
COMPANY ON ONE TOOL.
Special sauce
11. WWW.TEST-N-TELL.COM
JIRA PRODUCT DISCOVERY IS A SOLID FIRST
ATTEMPT BY ATLASSIAN TO GET INTO THE
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE GAME. IT
OFFERS JUST ENOUGH FEATURES AT THE
MOMENT TO SUPPORT SMALL TO MEDIUM
DISCOVERY EFFORTS AND IT WILL LIKELY GET
BETTER FAST.
TO BE REALLY USEFUL FOR LARGE AND
CORPORATE CUSTOMERS IT STILL NEEDS TO GET
IMPROVED, ESPECIALLY IN THE TEAM
MANAGEMENT AND USER RIGHTS DOMAINS. I'D
ALSO LOVE TO SEE MORE IN TERMS OF
CREATING AND COMMUNICATING VISION AND
STRATEGY FOR A PRODUCT.
SO IF YOU RUN YOUR PRODUCT DELIVERY IN
JIRA AND DON'T HAVE ANY TOOL FOR PRODUCT
DISCOVERY - GIVE JPD A TRY.
CONCLUSION
12. WWW.TEST-N-TELL.COM
PART OF JIRA AND WILL BE
INTEGRATED SOON WITH THE
REST OF THE ATLASSIAN SUITE
POWERFUL VIEWS ALLOW YOU
TO PRESENT THE DATA
ALMOST IN ANY WAY YOU
WANT
UNRIVALLED PRODUCT
DELIVERY TRACKING
HUGE POTENTIAL FOR
GETTING BETTER BY
BENEFITING FROM THE
EXISTING JIRA ADD-ONS
CURRENTLY FREE
PROS CONS
FOCUS ON BUILDING (IDEAS
FIRST, NO SECTIONS FOR
VISION OR STRATEGY)
NO CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
PORTAL OR SIMILAR
CAPABILITY
REQUIRES EXPERIENCED
PRODUCT OPS TO ADJUST FOR
THE NEEDS OF A PARTICULAR
ORGANISATION
NOT TOO FRIENDLY TO
STAKEHOLDERS NOT FAMILIAR
WITH JIRA
13. CREATE PRODUCTS
CUSTOMERS LOVE
GET IN TOUCH TO DISCUSS
EFFECTIVE PRODUCT OPERATIONS
PREPARED BY DANIIL LANOVYI
WWW.TEST-N-TELL.COM | WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/DANIILL