2 min Devops

Atlassian unveils flexible terminology for Jira Software Data Center

Atlassian unveils flexible terminology for Jira Software Data Center

The new release 8.17 will ensure consistent nomenclature of sprints and epics between Jira and agile “at scale frameworks”.

Australian software powerhouse Atlassian has released a second release candidate for its upcoming Jira 8.17 platform. It also announced support for flexible terminology in Data Center 8.17.

Jacob Shepard, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Enterprise for Atlassian, detailed the release in a blog post this week. “More likely than not, you use Jira Software to help your teams to plan, track, and release great software while improving agile practices,” he starts.

Defining and meeting “agile demands”

Jira Data Center now offers flexible terminology to ensure consistent nomenclature of sprints and epics between Jira and agile at scale frameworks. These include SAFe, LeSS, etc. This will improve Jira’s capabilities to reach enterprise agile demands, Shepard says.

“While the holistic values of agile don’t change, certain components become more critical as an organization grows from a small team of 20 to an enterprise of 20,000,” he explains.

“At its core, agile is a means to understanding, and that is done through a common language. And that common language becomes mission-critical as organizations scale and agile methodologies are adopted company-wide.”

Flexible terminology will be a native Jira Software Data Center feature, says Shepard. This means developers are able to standardize terminology without the need for third-party applications.

Helping admins to introduce new terminology

Admins can define naming conventions globally for every project and user. They can also easily name epics and sprints the same for Jira Software (including advanced roadmaps) and Jira Align. “Regardless of the framework you follow or the terminology you chose to use, you can quickly implement changes across your instance,” he writes.

“Despite your best communication efforts, some information can slip through the cracks.” Shepard warns. “To ensure users are aware of the new terminology, tooltips will populate on issue edit/create screens and backlogs as an additional sanity check. Jira will continue to show tooltips until users dismiss them,” he adds.