Workflows are vital for any Agile team. They help automate repeatable processes to make it easier for people to collaborate with more efficiency and fewer errors. Though they may sound like a magic bullet for productive team collaboration, they aren’t foolproof.
Here are four common problems that inhibit JIRA workflow agility and success. Learn to recognize them so you can prevent inefficiencies and ensure your workflows are always advancing organizational growth and sustainability.
1. Out-of-Date Tickets
When team members forget to update tickets, it can lead to a situation where finished work is ready to move onto the next step of validation, but because no one makes the Transition in JIRA, it does not progress forward as it’s supposed to. The workflow slows or halts altogether, causing delays and inefficiencies.
2. Dormant Workflows
Sometimes, workflows sit idle for long periods. You might identify a new Transition that would reduce the number of steps team members have to go through, but may lack the time, resources, or expertise required to add it to the workflow. As JIRA workflows sit dormant, the divide between capabilities and business needs grows wider.
3. Inaccurate Statuses
Statuses that are old, unused, duplicates, or don’t accurately describe an intermediate step in the ticket lifecycle can lead to a workflow becoming increasingly out of step with current business needs.
4. Over-Complicated Workflows
Having too many descriptors can over-complicate a workflow. Sometimes, there is a tendency to use labels to indicate Status, either instead of or in addition to the Status itself. This can cause confusion.
Accountability Drives JIRA Workflow Success
Being Agile means that you can automate and adapt your processes to current business needs and free up time for strategy. For this to work, all team members must be held accountable for transitioning workflows correctly, changing a workflow when it’s possible to make improvements, and ensuring that the workflow components are solely responsible for describing the status of a ticket in its lifecycle. This accountability will help to ensure that JIRA workflows are always serving the goals of the business.
