5 Jira Automation for Agile efficiency
Jira is a reasonably common software development tool used by Agile teams.
As an Engineering Manager, I am always on the lookout to improve team efficiency and processes. I recently discovered Jira automation which allows for the automation of repetitive tasks for Agile.
Prerequisites
- Admin access for the Jira project.
- Manage 1 branch / pull request per issue.
- Use the issue key in the branch name or a commit message
- The issues have statuses in a workflow including — To Do, In Progress, In Code Review, Ready for QA, and Done.
Where to access Jira Automation?
- On the Jira Project left pane; select “Project Settings”.
- On the “Project Settings” left panel; select “Automation”.
Jira Automation
1. Update an issue status to In Progress or Code Review
Additional Prerequisites
N/A
Automation
When a branch for an issue is created and the issue status is not “In Progress”, the status will be updated to “ In Progress”. Similarly, when a pull request for an issue is created, the issue status will be updated to “In Code Review”.
2. Assign an issue to a QA engineer upon merge of a pull request
Additional Prerequisites
- Each issue has a “QA Assignee” field and during Sprint grooming a QA engineer is assigned.
- Continuous Deployment is set up for lower environments upon merge.
Automation
When a pull request is merged, the issue will be re-assigned to “QA Assignee” and the status of the ticket will be updated to “Ready for QA”.
3. Update the due date for an issue based on the sprint’s last day
Additional Prerequisites
N/A
Automation
When a ticket is moved into a sprint or in a future sprint, the “Due Date” will be updated to the last day of the sprint.
4. When the first issue is in progress then update the epic to “In Progress”
Additional Prerequisites
N/A
Automation
When an issue under an epic is moved to “In Progress” and the epic is not already in progress, the status of the epic will be updated to “In Progress” as well.
5. When all the issues are completed then update the epic to “Done”
Additional Prerequisites
N/A
Automation
When all issues under an Epic are moved to “Done”, the status of the epic will be updated to “Done” as well.
Summary
You can use Jira automation to increase agile efficiency by manually re-assigning issues, updating statuses, and managing timelines and communication.
