Nice Work! In the Atlassian Ecosystem

On this episode of Nice Work! An Atlassian Ecosystem Podcast, ServiceRocket technical consultant Daniel Weinberg talks about AgileCraft; what the latest Atlassian acquisition means for agile practices, how it fits into the Atlassian ecosystem, how might this improve Atlassian support for scaled agile and who should consider looking into AgileCraft. We also talk about what this means for Jira Portfolio. Have a listen. 

If you are not yet registered for Atlassian Summit:

It might be too late for you to register for Summit, but just in case...get a 20% discount when you use the code TAKE20TEAM619 at registration. Register for Summit: 

https://www.atlassian.com/company/events/summit

Learn more about ServiceRocket: http://atlassian.servicerocket.com

You could:

1. Write a review on iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nice-work/id1339886029?mt=2
2. Tweet us using the hashtag #NiceWork and mention @billcush. 

Thanks for listening to the show.

Justin Alex Paramanandan, ServiceRocket technical consultant out of our Sydney office joins Nice Work! to talk about OpsGenie. We talk about what it is, where it fits in the Atlassian toolset and who should consider using it and why. 

If you are not yet registered for Atlassian Summit:

Get a 20% discount when you use the code TAKE20TEAM619 at registration. Register for Summit: https://www.atlassian.com/company/events/summit

Learn more about ServiceRocket: http://atlassian.servicerocket.com

You could:

1. Write a review on iTunes (or where ever you get your podcasts). https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nice-work/id1339886029?mt=2
2. Tweet us using the hashtag #NiceWork and mention @billcush. 

Thanks for listening to the show.

On this episode of Nice Work, Foogie Sim, Technical Atlassian Consultant from the ServiceRocket office in London, talked about why customers are switching from ServiceNow to Jira Service Desk and why he talked a marketing team from using Jira Software into using Jira Service Desk. Wait! What? A marketing team using Jira Software. Jira Service Desk?  

06:36 - Why customers are switching from ServiceNow to Jira Service Desk

12:53 - When people get hooked on Jira Service Desk

23:00 - Marketing team wanted to use Jira Software and Foogie talked them into using Jira Service Desk

31:39 - Guess what, "Customers" in Jira Service Desk Can Approve Items in the Workflow

34:26 - Converting spreadsheets to Jira issue types

If you are going to Atlassian Summit:

Check out the following sessions: 

• Matt Doar, Staff Engineer at Linkedin on Data Center
• Katie Burke, CPO at HubSpot on Confluence

If you are not yet registered for Atlassian Summit:

• Get a 20% discount when you use the code TAKE20TEAM619 at registration. Register for Summit: https://www.atlassian.com/company/events/summit

• Learn more about ServiceRocket: http://atlassian.servicerocket.com
• Bill's Book - The Art of Agile Marketing: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Agile-Marketing-Implementing-Confluence/dp/1732462607/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+art+of+agile+marketing&qid=1553027700&s=gateway&sr=8-3

You could:

1. Write a review on iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nice-work/id1339886029?mt=2
2. Tweet us using the hashtag #NiceWork and mention @billcush. 

Thanks for listening to the show.

I have to admit, I love having a native mobile app on my phone that makes it easy for me to work on my Jira issues when I'm on the go. The Jira instance I use every day is Server, so there is no mobile app, which isn't such a big deal mostly. I work in the office, sitting in a desk, and frankly, I don't feel a burning desire to work on my projects using my phone. But once Marc Verstaen, founder and CEO of Anaxi introduced me to his mobile app and I connected it to my Jira instance, I found it liberating. The simple fact that I can scroll through my filters, check in on tasks I am working on and also comment and assign, makes me more responsive to my colleagues without feeling like I am sitting down to work. 

On this episode of Nice Work! we talk to Marc about the interface he is building for Jira (and Github), why he is doing it, and what it means for working more effectively. 

Yes! Some of you may have noticed that we have not published an episode of Nice Work! since late 2018. I know you have missed it. I have certainly missed talking to so many smart guests about how they use the Atlassian suite to do great things. So, we're bringing it back. We have several cool guests lined up. And we will be on-location at Atlassian Summit 2019 in Las Vegas running episodes of the show from the Expo floor. Please come by the ServiceRocket booth and say hello.

If you have not registered for Atlassian Summit yet, I'd like to make that a bit easier for you by giving you a 20% discount. When you register, use the code: TAKE20TEAM619. With this, you get a 20% discount. Here is the link to Summit: https://www.atlassian.com/company/events/summit

Register now. Come by and say hello. Maybe we'll interview you on the podcast. Tell your Atlassian story.

Learn more about Marc:

• Anaxi: https://anaxi.com/
• On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcverstaen/
• On Twitter: https://twitter.com/verstaen

You could:

1. Write a review on iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nice-work/id1339886029?mt=2
2. Tweet us using the hashtag #NiceWork and mention @ServiceRocket
3. Comment below.

Thanks for listening to the show.

Zach Boerner is a senior technical consultant at ServiceRocket. He joins Nice Work! to talk about Jira Portfolio and how to use it right. Lacey asked the right question, "How long does it take to see Jira Portfolio's real value?" Zach's answer was comforting and frightening. "If you are doing everything right, your return on investment in Jira Portfolio is instantaneous," says Zach. Doing everything right means you have a well-groomed backlog and your stories are estimated out for a reasonable amount of time. In other words, your data has to be good. Of course. If you get that part right, then Jira Portfolio will show you where your work stands. Zach explains that you will know 1) we have a full year of work for this team ahead of us, and we are in big trouble with our current deadlines; OR 2) our backlog ends in only three months and then what are we going to work on. In either case, we can use the output from Jira Portfolio to make decisions, ask for resources, or let the business know they can make that new product announcement at the conference in the spring. 

This is the kind of visibility into our projects most companies would love to have. Zach helps us get our mind straight about what we need to have in place for us to realize the value of it. 

Learn more about Zach:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyboerner/
• ServiceRocket: http://atlassian.servicerocket.com

Connect with your host, Lacey Carlyle:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lacey-carlyle/
• All other social media @LaceyTalksTech 

This password thing is getting out of hand. Christian Reichert, co-founder and CEO of re:solution, had enough. He simply got tired of entering his passwords over and over. And remembering all those passwords. And becoming one with the "forgot password" feature. He went to the Atlassian Marketplace and did not find a solution. So he did something about it. A created a single sign-on product for the Atlassian Suite. He came all the way from Berlin to spend that day with us at ServiceRocket to tell us all about it. While he was here, we got him into the Nice Work! studio so we could share part of our discussion with you.

Learn more about Christian Reichert and re:solution:

• Christian's company re:Solution: http://www.resolution.de
• Christian on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianreichert/

Jira Service Desk makes it easy to enable customers and support professionals to communicate with transparency. Chat for Jira Service Desk, offered by Spartez, makes it even easier. According to Pawel Mazur of Spartez, "Agents have all the functionality of Jira Service Desk and the customer has a cute UI of a chat." And in a world where everything is moving to messaging, Chat for Jira Service Desk changes everything. Pawel Mazur and Jacek Wizmur-Szymczak from Spartez, join Lacey Carlyle on Nice Work! to talk about how to improve customer interactions with chat.  

Learn more about Spartez, Jacek, and Pawel:

• Spartez: https://spartez.com/
• Chat for Jira Service Desk: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1218891/chat-for-jira-service-desk?hosting=server&tab=overview
• Jacek Wizmur-Szymczak on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacekwizmurszymczak/
• Pawel Mazur: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paweł-mazur-906638124/

You are a Jira administrator. Colleagues come to you for help setting up their projects, their issue types, their workflows, and maybe even their permission schemes. Here's the thing. Your colleagues know what they want AND they don't know what they want. They know they want an issue type that matches how they work. They don't know that of they over-customize it, it will eventually go unused. One of the skills you need to hone, as a Jira Administrator, is listening skills. It is a required micro skill and one that will help you give your colleagues the Jira that they want. In this episode of Nice Work! Alyssa Ross, technical consultant at ServiceRocket, shares with Lacey why she runs an active listening workshop and why you should design more specific exercises for active listening in your meetings with colleagues. 

Learn more about Alyssa:

• Alyssa on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-ross-6891b7a1/

Think about this for a moment. When we talk about the difference between managers and individual contributors, someone inevitably says (even if they are half kidding), "Well, you know, the team members are the ones actually doing the work." The implication here is that the managers are not doing any work; at least not work of any value value. Obviously, this is not actually true because both are doing work. They are just doing different work and depend on each other equally to get all the work done. Joseph Flahiff, agile coach and author of The New Agile Manager, describes it as a symmetrical relationship between managers and team members. The new agile manager understands this and works with teams to ensure we are all working as effectively as possible.

And guess what, Lacey Carlyle, a new managers, gets some free agile manager coaching. 

Learn more about Joseph:

The New Agile Manager: https://www.amazon.com/NEW-AGILE-MANAGER-Joseph-Flahiff/dp/1978418825

Joseph on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephflahiff/

Few of us consider ourselves writers. Yet. All day long. All we do at work is write emails, write Confluence pages, write comments on Jira issues. Write. Write. Write. Doesn't that make us writers? Anne Janzer says it does. "If writing is any part of your job and you are paid to put thoughts into words, you are a writer." Janzer wrote this in her book, "The Workplace Writer's Process: A Guide to Getting the Job Done." Did you notice that? Writing is a process. You Jira Administrators will appreciate that. So embrace it. You are a writer. 

Think of it this way. You just finished creating a custom workflow, and you are about to buckle down and document how the workflow works, what issue type schemes it is associated with, and which projects it should be used in. That is writing. And I bet most of you Jira Administrators out there, faced with this task, procrastinate writing that documentation. We talked to Janzer about how to use process to improve our writing and communicate our ideas. So put on your ear buds, create a new Confluence page and start taking notes. 

Here is a challenge for you: We will send a ServiceRocket T-Shirt to the first five people who create a Confluence template applying the six step process from Janzer's book, which is also the process we talk about in the show. Once you create it, take a screen shot of the template and tweet it to Lacey (@LaceyTalksTech) and Bill (@billcush) using the hashtag #NiceWork! Seriously. Do it.