Jira: From Task Management to Personal Assistant - Harnessing Label to Personal Productivity
Prologue:
Task management is at the heart of successful project execution, and Jira shines as a versatile platform known for its knack for streamlining work assignments. Among its many features, one standout tool is labels. These handy labels act as guides, helping teams navigate tasks with clarity and precision. Typically, in Jira, labels are used to categorize tasks, like identifying if they’re related to bug fixes, new features, or user stories.
But, let’s imagine Jira as more than just a task list. What if we could use labels in creative ways beyond their usual roles? Could this lead to a productivity boost? Let’s explore how we might make the most of Jira’s potential.
JIRA: The management system
Jira has been used by 300,000+ companies worldwide, and one of them is Blibli. In Blibli, the main usage of Jira is for tracking story and listing task needed to do the team during the sprint. Jira’s website claims that “Jira supports any agile project management methodology for software development that your team might need. From agile planning to fully customizable Kanban and Scrum boards, Jira gives you the tools you need to estimate, report, and measure velocity with workflows designed to fit your frameworks”.
As a Technology Data Analyst in Blibli, we normally use the Kanban board as our daily task management. We group the task status into 6, which are:
- Pending
Task status when we cannot work the task yet due to a blocker, for example, the data is not ready yet, or the requirement still not final yet. - This Week Tasks
We had replenishment tasks in every Monday, and will list what tasks are we going to take in a week. - Today Tasks
The primary tasks that we’re going to do today - User Review
The task that we done but still waiting for the user / requestor to check our work, to determine is the work already okay or still needed some update. - Testing
Usually, task under this status is related to developer and the task still being tested on their side, for example, task about tracker or backend query. - Close
The task that we done worked on or we decide not to take (discontinue)
With kanban, we easily move the task from every status by dragging, so our team or user can see the progress easily.
One of Jira usage in Blibli is that we use it to track our Key Performance Indexes (KPIs). We utilize the due date, assignee, and labels to monitor our KPIs. For example, the service-level agreement (SLA) KPI, we check the due date and the task ‘close’ date to make sure we deliver our work ontime.
The utilities of Jira listed above is about our main tasks only, what about those tasks that don’t fall under the main project umbrella? Tasks like updating documents, preparing presentations for future use, or other miscellaneous tasks are often abandoned. I used to note such tasks in my notebook or just rely solely on memory to remember them. Unfortunately, this approach often led to last-minute rushes to complete these overlooked tasks (cue nervous laughter).
Integrating Jira into our personal assistant
As I mentioned earlier, relying solely on memory can be quite tricky when it comes to staying productive.
“Relying on short-term memory as a safeguard is extremely dangerous because of how limited it can be.” Alcivia — The Hazards of Relying on Memory Alone
Depending entirely on our memory to remember tasks and deadlines can lead to missed opportunities, overlooked details, and unnecessary stress. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information we must keep track of, which can tire us out and make us less efficient. Plus, our memory isn’t perfect; even the most organized people can forget important things in the chaos of everyday life. This heavy reliance on memory can really slow us down and make it more likely for mistakes to happen.
So, why not bring these non-primary tasks into Jira as well? By shifting the responsibility of remembering tasks to a reliable digital system, individuals can free up precious mental energy and focus more effectively on completing tasks. This move helps us overcome the limitations of human memory and tap into our full potential for productivity.
To get started, we can create a new label specifically for non-primary tasks, for example, “placeholder” or simply a “personal ticket.” With this label, we can input all the tasks we need to manage, ensuring that nothing is forgotten. This approach caters to both those who prefer to separate their work and personal lives (segmentors) and those who find it challenging to do so (integrators). For segmentors, Jira tickets will always be work-related tickets, all including the “placeholder” task that we created, but for integrators, we can go overboard with the Jira ticket, we can even create reminders for personal tasks like grocery shopping, getting a haircut, or paying bills. This way, integrators can achieve a balanced lifestyle where both professional and personal tasks receive equal attention and priority.
While both approaches have their advantages, understanding how they apply in different situations can help individuals optimize their productivity and maintain a healthy work-life balance, using tools like Jira to align with their unique cognitive preferences.
The implementation
In our workplace, we’ve recently introduced a new label called “placeholder”, and I’ve been using it for over two months now. I’ve been using the “placeholder” label to jot down any ideas or tasks that come to mind. This way, whenever I have some downtime, I can refer to these tasks instead of wasting time figuring out what to do next.
Additionally to that, in Jira we are able to create a personalize dashboard, with this I created my own version of dashboard and put whatever I want to track. Since due dates are tracked for our KPI, I put a calendar with the task’s due date on it. Therefore I can put my priority on the tasks that close to their due date.
As a segmentor myself, I prefer to let Jira as my working assistant only, and currently we in Blibli using Jira for work-related tasks , therefore it’s suitable for me. But for you who are an integrator. I suggest you to talk to your manager or supervisor first before using Jira as you personal assistant (in case adding new ticket for personal use is outside your workplace policies).
The other implementation is to calculate our KPI. We able to put the Jira’s data (the assignee, due date, labels, etc.) into Bigquery and utilize them to calculate or KPI efficiently. This steps are required since our KPI calculation cannot be catered by Jira’s filtering capability. Also, by exporting the data, we are free to explore the visualization method to monitor our achievement.
- First, we hit the Jira API to get the data based on our preset JQL (Jira Query Language)
- Next we send the output of API to Google Cloud Storage (GCS)
- And last, we load the data from GCS into Bigquery.
After the data is available into Bigquery, we able to create the dashboard for the team to monitor their KPI’s score.
By having this dashboard, all of our teammate are aware of their score and able to focus on raising their score if there’s any of their score that in the red zone. We also created a summary per team member, therefore, the team leader/manager can monitor their team KPI/Goals achievement
With this adaptation in Blibli, I had significantly improved my productivity, as I no longer need to worry about forgetting tasks or letting anything slip through the cracks, also I always have tasks to do when I have a downtime. Beside of it, with the help of KPI monitoring dashboard that created based on Jira’s data, our team are able to track their KPI’s score, therefore our team are able to achieve better in each semester. This also helps for the higher ups to monitoring their team member’s performance throughout semester as well.
Epilogue
By utilizing new labels for Jira, it’s evident that it has surpassed its initial role as a project management tool. With this enhancement, Jira has transformed into a personalized assistant, seamlessly integrating into our daily lives and revolutionizing how we manage tasks. No longer do we need to rely on memory to keep track of deadlines or remember important commitments; Jira has become our reliable companion, ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks.
By leveraging its capabilities for personal productivity, we’ve witnessed a remarkable increase in our efficiency and effectiveness, both at work and in our personal endeavors. With Jira by our side, we’ve unlocked a new level of productivity, allowing us to focus our time and energy on what truly matters. As we look to the future, we can confidently embrace the possibilities that lie ahead, knowing that with Jira as our trusted ally, the sky’s the limit.
See also:
https://www.alcivia.com/the-hazards-of-relying-on-memory-alone/
