How to Streamline Build Development and Boost Productivity using Jira Workflow Automation

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Constantly updating Jira – or constantly chasing people to update their Jira tasks – can be tedious especially if you’re switching between Jenkins and Jira. This is where automation comes in. Not only does it help to integrate Jenkins and Jira, but automating actions in Jira based on Jenkins’ builds speeds up development, keeps everyone up-to-date, and ensures a successful build.

Four ways to automate your development workflow

1. Create alerts for failed or unsuccessful builds 

During the development process, builds can fail. These failures can go unnoticed especially if there isn’t a warning system set up to alert the team in both Jenkins and Jira. 

One easy way to ensure that this doesn’t happen is to set up a rule that will automatically create an issue in Jira whenever a build in Jenkins fails or is unsuccessful. From there, you can transition the issues to specific statuses or assign them to team members for investigation. That way, project managers and DevOps are alerted in Jira about the issue immediately and can take action for resolution. 

2. Automate version management and closely track project releases 

Keeping track of build versions manually is a challenge, especially when there are multiple releases under one project. Automating the process eliminates the risk of manual errors and creates clear milestones to help you track the progress of releases your team has completed. 

Consider using Jira as your recordkeeper and set rules to automatically create a new version of the build whenever a release build completes. Each version will represent a clear milestone or release point for the software, creating a record of your releases for reference.

An app can help you see the full version history in Jira

3. Always keep your Jira tasks updated by transitioning issues linked to a build 

Forgetting to update Jira tasks is a common issue faced by most teams. When developers start work on a build in Jenkins, it’s easy to forget they should also update the Jira issue to reflect progress.

Setting rules to automatically update a linked Jira task when work starts on Jenkins is an excellent way to bypass this problem and make sure your Jira board reflects the actual state of the work. 

Set rules to automatically move Jira tasks to “in progress” when work starts on Jenkins.

4. Automatically trigger builds and tests in Jira

It’s never easy to work off multiple platforms. Using Jira as a central platform that can track tasks and triggers creates a centralized workflow and reduces the need to switch between Jenkins and Jira.

When you trigger a build in Jira, it’s always associated with a specific task or issue. This ensures that builds are initiated in context and provides a clear link between code changes. 

Automate your workflow today

Whether you’re a project manager, developer, or part of the DevOps team, embracing automation in your workflow is an advantage you can’t afford to overlook. Automation saves time and speeds up development while smoothing over any integration issues that may crop up. In short, embracing automation empowers your team. 

How do you use automation in your development workflow? Comment down below with your tips.