Project Management guide for using Atlassian Tools Jira and Confluence

1. Do More With Less
From Confusion to Order
With Atlassian
Ivelin Andreev, Svetoslav Petkov

2. • Where are we?
Levels of Knowledge

3. Focus the Business Need = Success
• Know what you do
• Know how is success measured
• Focus accordingly
• How do you build?

4. • Fundamental mistakes
– No scope (it will be LIKE… with SOME changes)
– No current state - accumulative documentation
– No traceable history of communication channels
– No prototypes, late “Go Live”
– Changes on the run
• The result
– Four major refactorings
– 2 years, 8800 m/h development
The Need of Change

5. What did we Need
• Better process and appropriate tools
• Goals
– Early scope definition
– Improved and traceable communication
– Predictable and efficient resource management
– Measurement of progress - Deliver Quality (what, when)
– Change management
– Transparency for the client
– Customer orientation

6. • Document Management System
• Key Features
– Spaces, Pages, News, Files, Comments
– History and change tracking
– Notifications/Watches
– Search – hierarchy, labels, full text
– Import/Export – XML, PDF, HTML, MS Word
– Integration – Jira, SharePoint, full SOAP/XML interface
– Designed for enterprise
Atlassian Confluence

7. Confluence Project Space

8. • Issue & Time tracking system
• Key Features
– Change log
– Components and versions, roadmap
– Notifications – create, update, assign
– Import from Bugzilla, Excel, MS Project, CSV
– Flexible – users, groups, permissions
– Reports
• issues by status & priority
• estimated vs actual time taken
• number of issues per project and period
• release notes
Atlassian JIRA - Who does what

9. Issues
• Issue types - Bug, Feature,
Task, Improvement,
Question, Specification
– Customizable fields
– Customizable workflow
– Validation of transitions
– Automated events on
transition
– Linking
– Tasks – management,
analysis, estimation

10. JIRA Dashboards

11. Project Guide
• Since 01 January 2009
• Iteration based – 4 weeks, fixed release date
• Documentation
– Unique ID, Template based
– Hierarchical (Dynamic Product Backlog) stored in Confluence ONLY
• Initial – early stage, kick off meeting
• Preliminary – main functional requirements
• Approved – detailed, commented and labeled
• Iteration planning
• Iteration plan and estimate approval
• Daily meetings

12. Development Cycle

13. Execution & Change Management
Weeks 1 - 3
• Prioritized list of issues
• Daily SCRUM meetings
• Meeting Reports
Week 4
• Testing, Bugfixing, Refactoring
• Discussion of next iteration
Changes
• Preliminary Specification – Comments
• Approved Specification – Jira Question

14. Release
• TL assures specification items
• Critical bugs are fixed
• Create release notes report
• Publish news item for the update

15. Time Tracking & Reporting
• Time Tracking
– Start Progress
– Assure issue has initial estimate
– Always comment what is done and what has left
– Stop progress and set status
• Weekly reports
– Time spent per project
– Time spent per issue/person
– Week plan
– Project plan – 3 months ahead

16. Open Problems
• Major
– Long distance communication (Customer, Manager, ICB)
– Long term (3-6 months) planning changes weekly
– Long release planning and discussions – 2-3 weeks
– Yet small scope knowledge (1 iteration)
– Requirement changes in next iteration
– Single point communication
• Minor
– Multiple environments (Dev, Test, Stage, Production)
– External interference with application data
– Many simultaneous projects
– Redundant reporting - Jira and Project Tracker

17. Questions?