I've rescued over 100 Jira Service Management implementations. Healthcare companies. Banks. Retailers. Tech startups. Government agencies. And you know what? They all make the same five mistakes. Not variations. The same five mistakes. The good news? Once you understand what these mistakes are, you can avoid them entirely—
I recently inherited a client's Jira instance with 25 statuses in their workflow. Twenty-five. When I presented the workflow diagram to the stakeholders, they shrugged. The managers said "it seems detailed." But the people actually doing the work? They told me it was a nightmare. "
Confluence is the underdog of the Atlassian stack. Not as much as it used to be, but there are still so many companies that don't use it. Or they have it, but barely touch it. They think of it as "just a documentation portal" - somewhere
Let me tell you about the worst Jira instance I've ever inherited, but just before we start a quick info. Atlassian a while ago changed the naming convention from Custom Field to Fields. 300+ (custom) Fields. Three hundred. When I started the audit, I found: * "Priority"
Introduction: Dashboards Are NOT Dead Let me address something I hear from clients constantly: "Mike, are dashboards still relevant? Should we even bother?" My answer: Absolutely yes. And here's why this question keeps coming up—and why the answer matters more than ever. After 14 years
The Clock Is Ticking: Atlassian's Data Center End-of-Life Timeline Atlassian has made it official: Data Center is being retired, and the countdown has begun. Here are the critical dates every Data Center customer needs to know: * March 30, 2026: End of license sales to new customers (16 months
Sponsored by Vilisoft Real client scenario: "Mike, we clone the same epic structure every sprint. 50 issues. Different assignees, dates, priorities. Takes us 2-3 hours of manual work every two weeks." My response: "What if I told you that could be 2 minutes instead?" Their reaction:
Sponsored by Adaptavist My reaction when I first saw HAPI: "Are you saying the left side equals the right side?" "Yes, identical behavior." "No, you're shi**ing me." That was my genuine reaction. I still smile thinking about it. After 14+ years
Confession time: People are terrified of SLAs (Service Level Agreements) in JSM. I see it constantly. New to JSM? Start with What is JSM for the overview. "SLAs feel like a police officer watching everything we do." "We'll never meet the targets, so why set
Let me be brutally honest: JSM Knowledge Base is outdated. It hasn't changed significantly in 10 years. The search is imprecise. The control is limited. It's... not great. New to JSM? Start with What is JSM. But here's the reality: If you're
Controversial statement: If you're not using Forms in JSM, you're wasting time and making life harder than it needs to be. New to JSM? Start with What is JSM. After 14+ years consulting, I use Forms in approximately 95% of JSM implementations. Not traditional request types—
Controversial take: Jira Work Management is Atlassian's best product that nobody talks about. After 14+ years consulting, I've seen every project management tool. Trello, Asana, Monday, ClickUp, Smartsheet—all of them. But here's what happened last month that convinced me JWM is special: I
The onboarding paradox: Companies spend weeks perfecting how employees join. Then when they leave? Chaos. Complete the employee lifecycle with my Onboarding System. Real story: That same 1,500-person insurance company I've mentioned in this series? Their offboarding was taking 2-3 weeks. Employees left with active access. Laptops
Here's something most people don't realize: You don't need to be a developer to use the Jira API. With AI tools and simple clients like Postman, even non-technical people are automating Jira workflows today. Why am I teaching you this? After 14+ years consulting,
Yesterday I showed you the complete onboarding system using JSM Standard. Today, we're adding Assets for automatic hardware tracking. New to Assets? Start with my JSM Assets tutorial. Same client. Same 1,500-person insurance company. But now we're tracking every laptop, monitor, and phone from assignment
Real client story: Last month, a 1,500-person insurance company in London called me. Their onboarding was a disaster—new employees waiting weeks for laptops, system access, everything. We rebuilt the entire system in JSM. Three weeks of delays became three days of efficiency. This is exactly how we did
Consultant reality check: I've implemented Assets for organizations ranging from 10-person startups to enterprises like the NHS. Here's what most people don't tell you—Assets can save you serious money. I recently helped a client replace three separate asset tracking systems with JSM Assets.
A word from someone who's done this hundreds of times: After 14+ years implementing JSM for everyone from the BBC to Lloyds Bank, I've learned something crucial—people massively overcomplicate this. The out-of-the-box setup is actually brilliant. Yes, even for large enterprises. Let me show you
Note: This article is based on my original JSM crash course video, with updated insights for 2026. A brand new, comprehensive video version is coming soon, you can find the quick tutorial in this article now! This free guide covers the fundamentals of JSM, and I'll be following
Introduction: The Visibility Crisis Every Organization Faces Let me be direct: 98% of my clients struggle with visibility when they first come to me. After 14 years consulting for organizations like BBC, Vodafone, NHS, and Lloyds Bank, this is the most common pain point I encounter. Teams are drowning in
Introduction: The Question Every Organization Asks "Do we need Atlassian Guard?" After 14 years of implementing Atlassian solutions for enterprise clients like BBC, Vodafone, NHS, and Lloyds Bank, I hear this question constantly. And here's the truth: the answer is almost never simple. Like most consultant
Introduction Welcome to the ultimate guide for setting up your Jira Kanban project like an absolute boss. Whether you're managing a development team, running marketing campaigns, coordinating HR processes, or handling customer support tickets, Kanban is your go-to methodology for visualizing work and maximizing throughput. ⚠️ Note: The interface
I walk into client meetings every week where Marketing and HR teams are drowning in spreadsheets because they are terrified of Jira. They think it's "too technical." They think it's "overkill." But here is the reality: In 2026, Jira isn't
There is a specific moment in every scaling company's life when Epics stop working. I saw this with a client just last month. Their backlog wasn't a prioritized list anymore; it was a parking lot of 400 unconnected Epics. The CTO couldn't see the