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Well, here’s something new. Nobody (well, okay, maybe only a select few people) enjoys rote work. Most of us dream of clicking a button and poof! Seemingly “automagically,” whatever mundane work we’ve been tasked with doing is done. The idea of a template in itself isn’t all that new. Smart Issue Templates for Jira don’t sound all that innovative on the surface. But let’s get one thing straight – this is a big deal. Now, you can build automated workflows across your software development lifecycle. Say goodbye to all those tedious tasks. Things like scheduling issue hierarchies, and entering the same field values over and over, can become a thing of your past. Start creating Smart Templates that can launch a set of repetitive tasks with a single click. Workflows that benefit from these new Smart Templates include Help Desk requests, user stories around data entry compliance, and test cases.

Are templates magical?

In some ways, yes, they are. Just think of all the hours wasted, collectively, as a daily total, as every developer or Scrum Master or whoever goes into Jira to set up a new project. You need to add tags to the project, assign people to the team, set a due date, configure its privacy policy, etc. That’s a lot of silly steps that don’t add much value to the project, essential though they are. Smart Issue Templates for Jira aim straight for the heart of all that “administrivia.” Finally, a solution eliminates most of the scut work that seasoned professionals generally regard as low-level activity. Today is your day to rejoice for those who have toiled (and suffered) through setting up a Jira project. Here’s why. Here are five reasons why in addition to saving time, saving money, and saving frustration, the added value of these Smart Issue Templates for Jira.

2 Reasons Why Developers Get Excited

1. Create Templates for Anything & Everything: we pretty much gave it away in the headline of this article, “Smart Issue Templates.” So, you probably clued in to how the value of templatizing your work would be benefit #1. The bonus is the built-in template selector available in the Create Issue form. This streamlines your effort, and the pre-work done makes your job a whole lot easier.
2. Auto-populate: whichever variables you choose, or boundaries thereof, can be pre-populated into the templates. And then you can make them available to everyone – or at least to the people you like. You can be selective about access. Like other tools that “learn” how you typically populate a given field (for example, your address in an online application), these Smart Issue Templates also get to know your frequent choices. Then, they can be saved as a standard entry for a given field.

3 Reasons Managers Get Excited about Templates

1. Centralized Scope and Management: everything in one place. Now that’s innovation! Like air traffic control or military operations, a single command station is essential for projects with high activity rates and risks. The same holds with using Jira to manage all those moving parts. Things like software bugs, user requests, and so on. Everyone expects to follow up. Now, organizations can track and manage everything from one place. Here’s the bonus:  usage statistics to stay on top of all that activity.
2. Standardization: just about every organization, at some point, hires “the new guy.” That new guy (or gal) may or may not have the experience needed to queue up a hierarchy or workflow – let alone an efficient way to do it. Today, people more proficient with the task can create templates for your organization, making them available to everyone to utilize. In this way, you can maximize efficiency and enjoy the benefits of standardization simultaneously.
3. Hierarchy & Control: everyone benefits from having processes and workflows that offer controlled access. Now, you can restrict which Smart Issue Templates are available for each project or issue type. You can set a hierarchy and apply it based on a set schedule. And you can establish sub-tasks with their hierarchies defined along with samples. In this way, you can elevate the abilities of the rising professionals who are learning to use the tools.

Go Ahead – Make Work Easier

Conversations with developers have revealed some insights about why they feel bullish about Smart Issue Templates for Jira. For the most part, software engineers want to code – not manage people – and they certainly don’t want to file “TPS Reports.” That’s for junior coders who need to earn their stripes. At least that’s a general sentiment. So, with these new templates, you can keep your senior developers happy doing what they love to do, which is code. And you can save them from the monotony of “death by a thousand cuts” scut work like populating Jira tickets. It’s a win-win all the way ’round. If you’re still unsure how to get Smart Issue Templates for Jira and what they can do for you, we’ve created a free sandbox to explore and try things out.