We’re Saying Goodbye to Agile Dashboard for Project Management - Discover Ways to Move Forward

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“Change is the only constant,” as they say. One of our apps, Agile Dashboard for Project Management, will be retiring on July 1, 2025. For 7 years it has helped teams keep their work items in top shape by spotting missing estimates, unclear descriptions, or forgotten tasks. We’ve enjoyed creating and supporting this tool, but now we’re ready for new challenges and have decided to shift our focus to other apps with higher demand.

To help you maintain best practices for your work items in Jira after Agile Dashboard is retired, we’ve prepared a few practical tips and a special thank-you gift. Keep reading to find out more!

Ways to keep your work items in Jira in high quality

Tip #1: Set up required fields. 

One of the effective ways to keep high-quality work items is configuring required fields in Jira. For example, you can require a work item to have a description, priority, labels, or assignee. By making selected fields mandatory, you can prevent vague or incomplete tasks from entering your workflow. This not only minimizes the chances of missing important information but also improves prioritization and accountability within the team. 

Things to consider when setting required fields: 

• Different teams may need different mandatory fields, so remember to customize them accordingly.

• Evaluate which fields are truly essential to add value. This way you’ll avoid slowing down work item creation by requiring unnecessary fields.

If you’d like to know how to configure required fields, you can find step-by-step instructions here.

Tip #2: Use Workflow Validators for work items transition. 

Keeping work items well-structured doesn’t end after their creation. With Jira’s Workflow Validators, you can enforce specific rules when transitioning work items between statuses. Then, a work item will move to the next stage only when it meets certain, predefined criteria. 

For example, you can require that:

• A Priority is set before moving a task to "In Progress".

• A Reviewer is assigned before transitioning to "Ready for Review".

• A Time log is recorded before closing a work item.

By implementing validators, you can prevent low-quality or incomplete work items from progressing and avoid confusion later. You’ll also ensure that all work items maintain consistent standards, resulting in smoother workflows.

Actions worth trying:

• Test your validators to ensure they work correctly, without causing errors that could disrupt the workflow.

• Monitor and adjust validators as needed. As your team’s needs evolve, some rules may require updates or removal over time.

Seems like Workflow Validators could be beneficial for your workflow? You can learn how to configure them here.

Tip #3: Use Issue Templates to improve work item descriptions.

On the Atlassian Marketplace, you’ll find apps that offer customizable templates. They can help you create clear and comprehensive descriptions for your tasks. By using ready-made templates, you can create work items more quickly without compromising on quality. Plus, they're a great way to maintain consistency and reduce errors. 

How to utilize them?

Issue templates can be tailored to different types of work items, ensuring no crucial information is left out. For example, a bug report template helps to make sure that every bug contains reproduction steps, expected behavior, and environment details. Or, a user story template guarantees that each story includes a well-defined user story, acceptance criteria, and a testing plan. 

Tip #4: Make data-driven decisions with Jira Insights. 

Valuable data can have significant impact on the quality of your work items, as it’s not only about planning but also continuous improvement. Using Jira insights, you can analyze past sprint data, track current progress, and spot issues that require attention. Based on this information, you can make adjustments to your plans and work items at every stage the workflow. 

With Jira Insights you can:

• Review past sprints to identify poorly defined or incomplete work items.

• Monitor work item progress throughout the sprint, ensuring they stay on track and maintain quality standards.

• Spot stuck, blocked, or flagged work items, so your team can focus on those that require attention.

Tip #5: Create high-quality work items with Multiple Checklists for Jira. 

Standards and consistency are key to maintaining high-quality work items. Multiple Checklists for Jira can help you ensure that all the necessary steps are checked off before moving forward. If a checklist isn't complete, you can block transitions to prevent anything from being overlooked. By using checklists, your team can stick to standards like the Definition of Done or the Definition of Ready. Additionally, checklist templates allow you to quickly apply pre-made checklists, saving you time and effort. 

Checklists can help you keep high quality and consistency across various processes, such as: employee onboarding, event planning, or customer service requests.

Thank You for the Journey! Exclusive Discount for ATD Customers

But, tips aren’t all have to offer! As a thank-you gift, we’re giving a 75% discount on any app from our portfolio to all ATD customers who began using Agile Dashboard for Project Management before March 2025. If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, simply let us know here and start a new journey with our other apps!

How we can help you work better - our current app portfolio

To give you an idea of the tools you can use to enhance your workflow, we’ve put together a brief overview of the apps we’ve developed. Our aim is to help you work smarter, easier, and more efficiently. Below is a list of all our current products:

• Worklogs - Time Tracking and Time Reports, lite Time Tracker; Customizable time reports with export options that come with a configurable dashboard gadget

• Multiple Checklists for Jira; Easy-to-automate checklists with templates and validators that ensure completion

• QAlity Plus – Test Management for Jira; Efficient bug tracking, detection, and reporting with advanced analytics

• Team Planner - Resource Planning and Capacity Planning; Real-time collaborative planning tool that helps visualize the bigger picture and quickly adjust your plan to changing needs 

• Time Assistant - Time Tracking and Workload Dashboard; personalized, customizable list of tasks worked on. Together with active times and work log summaries, it makes logging time quicker, more convenient, and more accurate. 

Let’s stay in touch!

Every ending is a new beginning. If you’d like to find out more, we’re here for you. Don’t hesitate to reach out!