In software development of all kinds there is a plethora of tools available to the individual programmer and even large teams, many of these tools do various different things like keeping track of tasks, scheduling maintenance checks and even tracking software bugs that need to be fixed. These tools aid in turning software development into a much easier to handle task than rummaging through paperwork all day only to forget a small important detail in your project.
I have used a few different kinds of development tools all of which do various different things; for example: Trello, a web based Kanban-style list making application, it allows users to create task boards with columns that typically include statuses like in progress which can significantly speed up development with larger teams where communication becomes critical. Other examples of development tools include: Asana, A web and mobile work management platform and Monday, A cloud-based platform for creating applications and managing software. These are only a few of the vast amounts of different tools out there that aid in software development.
For me personally one tool soars higher above the rest for how helpful and diverse it’s name is Jira, a project management tool used for agile boards, backlogs, roadmaps, reports, integrations, add-ons etc. You can plan, track and manage all your software development projects from a single tool. It is by far the most helpful tool I have ever come across. I was introduced to Jira while working on a project with a team bearing in mind that I had only ever been using Trello at the time so I had no experience with other tools but once I got into the ecosystem of Jira I absolutely loved it and quickly adopted Jira into my own projects.
A lot of developers and team members dislike Jira for various reasons, one of which is that Jira is too flexible for its own good boasting an almost endless well of options that you can customize to your needs. This is why I personally like Jira because it houses everything you could need all in one single tool. I don’t like jumping between many different development tools when I could have one single tool that can easily be customized to my needs. Big companies especially like using Jira as it integrates into multi-deployment and development tools while still having ways to control sprints to maintain efficiency. One of the most useful tools in Jira is the backlog that allows the use of to-do later tasks, for example: You find a bug in your software and you need to fix it but cannot dedicate time to fix it right away due to needing to focus on other areas of development, you can add a note for you to come back later to fix it. Or perhaps you are part of a team and you find a bug in the code but you cannot fix it due to it not being your department, you can leave a to do note for the development team in charge of that section so that they can come by later and fix it, that means everyone is working as efficiently as possible without wasting time on menial tasks that they are not meant to be working on. This will especially become helpful when there is a tough deadline to meet.
I use Jira daily to keep track of all my client tasks and even business tasks like; adding features, tracking bugs, social media posts and blog posts to name a few. Jira provides a simple way to write down tasks but also has the ability to do more advanced tasks should they be more complex than simply tracking a bug. What keeps me using Jira is not just how diverse it is with all of its options but its free plan, its free plan gives you so much control that I simply couldn’t pass it up, I’ve never had any issue with it so far and that’s simply by using the free plan.
Obviously this is all my personal opinion, Jira is a very diverse tool but that also means it will be very complex which most would find overwhelming. A developer should always use the tools they feel most comfortable with, A fool with a tool is still a fool.
