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Atlassian Cloud changes Mar 30 to Apr 6, 2020

This is a repost from Atlassian's blog where the latest updates to the Atlassian cloud platform is posted. It is reposted here since the Atlassian blog does not have an RSS feed and so we can discuss the changes to the Atlassian Cloud architecture. You can follow these posts withe the tag "atlassian cloud changes".
Atlassian Cloud
Your cloud-hosted products are supported by the Atlassian Cloud platform. This section usually includes changes related to multiple Atlassian Cloud products, site administration, and user management.
Email users with suggested account changes 
From the Change details button, you can suggest that a user changes their account details to make their profile more consistent and easier to identify. Read more about administering Atlassian accounts.
Give your users a Trusted permission 
From a user's Permission options, select Trusted to give certain users more responsibility. These users will be able to install and configure new products on your site and invite new users themselves.
Claim accounts after verifying a domain 
To start managing accounts on your domain, we’ve included an additional step that requires you to claim accounts after verifying that you own the domain. From the table on the Domains page, click Claim accounts next to the verified domain. Read more about verifying a domain.
 
Jira platform
Changes in this section usually apply to all Jira products. We'll tell you in the change description if something is only for a specific Jira product.
Need help with next-gen projects or service desks? Try searching for what you need  
We’ve improved how to get help with your next-gen project or service desk. We’ve moved our documentation into Jira Software and Jira Service Desk to help you find relevant help to your questions.
To search for help content in next-gen projects or service desks:
If not already there, navigate to your next-gen project or service desk. From the navigation bar, select Help. When you reach out for help, Jira will suggest relevant content based on the screen you’re currently viewing. To find other help, use the search bar.
Next-gen: Epic panel in backlog 
You can now manage epics on the backlog of your next-gen project via the Epics panel, similar to how epic management works in classic Jira Software projects. Changes you make in the panel on the backlog will reflect on the Roadmap, and vice-versa.
Find issues you've recently worked on 
We’ve added a new Worked on tab to the Your work page. This tab lets you quickly find and resume work on issues you’ve updated recently. Head to Your work > Worked on to get started.
Improved navigation in Jira Cloud 
We’ve created an improved navigation experience that always appears at the top of the screen, with clearly labeled buttons and menus to help you search, create, and resume your work. Find out more about our improved navigation experience and when you can try it out.
New issue view: Improved date formatting in the history feed
Dates in the history are now more consistent. They’ll correctly show when changes happened relative to your time zone and be translated into the language you’ve chosen for Jira.
Select your email notifications for issue activity from personal settings
Jira sends email notifications when certain activities occur on issues. In your personal settings, you can now choose whether you want these notifications. If you do, you can toggle notifications for issue activity when you’re a watcher, reporter, assignee on an issue, when someone mentions you, and when you make changes to an issue. Learn more about choosing email notifications.
Issue collector no longer matches the submitter's user session to make them the reporter 
We’ve adapted our issue collectors to the Chrome browser’s new cookie security features, but have had to change how they work. The issue collector no longer matches a submitter’s user session to make them the reporter. You can still match them by email address.
To improve issue security, project and issue keys are no longer displayed in the success message after submitting feedback on an issue collector (unless the project is open to anyone on the web).
Learn more about using the issue collector.
 
Jira Software
We're rolling out a new type of project known as next-gen. By default, any Jira Software licensed user can create their own next-gen project. These projects don't affect existing Jira projects, shared configurations, or your schemes. You can manage who's allowed to create next-gen projects with the new Create independent projects global permission. Read more about next-gen projects.
GitHub app on the Atlassian Marketplace 
We've partnered with GitHub to build a new and improved integration, which you can install at the Atlassian Marketplace. This replaces the DVCS connector in Jira's system settings. Current GitHub integrations set up under the old method will continue to work, but new integrations must be set up using the app on the Atlassian Marketplace. We're rolling out this update gradually, so it may not be on your Jira Cloud site yet.
This won't affect GitHub Enterprise integrations, which must still be set up via the DVCS connector.
Kanban boards just got faster 
Is your team so productive, their 'Done' column is always overflowing? Too many issues on a board can slow it down and make you scroll way too much. To fix this, we’re bringing what we’ve codenamed “Fast Kanban”—a way to keep your board fresh and clean, and as quick as a flash.
The idea behind it is simple. The ‘Done’ column will now show only issues that have been updated (in any way) in the last 2 weeks, hiding the rest. Less noise on your board means happier teams. Any project admin can change the retention period, or choose to display all issues, if they prefer. Learn more
Quickly copy a link to an issue in your next-gen project backlog 
When viewing your backlog, you can now copy a link to an issue to your clipboard. To try it out:
Navigate to your next-gen project backlog. Locate the issue you want a link for. Select More (…) > Copy issue link. The link to the issue is copied to your clipboard, ready for you to paste into a Confluence page, Slack message, or anywhere you might want to share your issue’s link.
 
Jira Service Desk
New issue view for Jira Service Desk 
The new issue view groups key actions and information in a logical way, making it easier for you to scan and update requests. Learn more about the new issue view.
Use keyboard shortcuts in your queues
Use keyboard shortcuts to navigate around your queues and get your work done faster. You can now move through issues, select their fields, and go to the issue view from your queues just by using your keyboard!
Remind agents to update empty fields when moving a request in your next-gen service desk 
We added another rule to your next-gen service desk workflows. Now, you can prompt your agents to complete an empty field when they use a specific transition to change an issue’s status. The rule removes a burden on your teams to remember to fill in specific fields until they matter. It keeps them focused on the important work of helping your customers.
To learn more about the rule, and get an example of how to use it, check out our complete documentation on next-gen workflow rules.
 
Confluence
You can now create spaces on Android mobile  
Android users can now create spaces on-the-go in the Confluence mobile app. You can find this action in the overflow menu (•••) in the top right corner of the app.
Your editing experience just got an upgrade 
The new Confluence editor allows anyone to create beautiful, powerful pages effortlessly. Check out the editor roadmap to learn more.
End of support for nested tables 
As we work on creating a more stable editing experience, we will no longer support nested tables - that is, a table within a list, block quotes, or another table. Existing nested tables will not be affected, you simply won't be able to create new nested tables.
We're extending editing improvements to all pages on Android 
The editing improvements we made to blogs a few months ago are coming to the rest of your Android mobile pages, too. In addition to being faster and more reliable, your new pages are also responsive, optimized for readability, and have advanced tables. Some macros are still missing as we rebuild them, but you can check the list of changes and track updates to macros on our docs site.
Jira issue URLs are converted to smart links 
When you paste a Jira issue link into a Confluence page, the URL is converted to a smart link that displays the page icon and the page title. This works if the Jira and Confluence sites are linked or if they are both cloud versions.
Convert pages to use the new editor 
You can now convert your existing pages that were created using the legacy editor to use the new editing experience! Learn more
Confluence navigation just got better 
Get to information faster with improved navigation – making what you need visible from anywhere in Confluence. Learn more
Portfolio for Jira plan macro 
The Portfolio for Jira plan Confluence macro lets you embed a Portfolio for Jira Server and Data Center plan in a Confluence page. Join key stakeholders in the spaces where business goals are built and tracked, and share how work is progressing across multiple projects and teams.
 
Bitbucket
A merge checklist has been added to the right sidebar of the new pull request experience 
In the new pull request experience, you can now view any merge checks via the sidebar located on the right side of a pull request. Merge checks allow admins to recommend (on standard plan) or require (on premium plan) specific conditions on merges for individual branches or branch patterns. Merge checks work in tandem with branch permissions to give your team flexibility and control over your development workflow.
New Code Review - Limit the amount of rendered diff content 
Limits the amount of pull request content rendered in the diff and file tree to improve browser performance. Limits include the overall number of files and number of lines for the entire diff. Learn more
Diff comment replies limited to one level of indentation
In the new code review experience, replies to diff comments are now limited to one level of indentation, meaning all replies are still displayed but they are all at the same level of alignment. Along with the updated display, Bitbucket Cloud now auto-populates the @mention of the person to whom you are replying.
Enable git clone options at step level 
You can now enable git clone options at a step level. Check out the docs to learn more.
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

Defect versus Incident - what is the difference and why does it matter?

Some people say Defect and some say Incident. Both are correct, but what is the difference and why does it matter? In this article I will explain how I see the difference, why it matters and perhaps more importantly when it matters. 
When it comes to defects, then we have already defined that a defect is when the solution does not fit the requirement. We also defined what a defect is not, so we should be fine with just the term defect. Right? Well, there are actually a few reasons why we should actually have have two different definitions for a defect.
The Legal Aspect
One of the least understood aspect of defects is the fact that there is a point in the development process that change the way we manage defects. That point is when a solution is accepted, which occur during the acceptance phase before code is deployed and released in production. From a legal perspective this is when the standard agreement between the client and the provider is fulfilled.
There might be additional services added beside the standard agreement that add another layer on top of the standard one, like a post go live support period or extended defect management after release.
This point in the development is also where responsibilities sometimes shift from the development team to a maintenance team for example.
The Complexity Aspect
Another important aspect is the complexity aspect that comes into play as the deploy is released into a production system. Even if the pre-prod environment is identical to the production environment it is still withing the development teams responsibility. Once put into production this usually changes and the complexity with the full solution as well as the full network make it a much more costly affair to manage problems.
When issues occur in the development teams environments it rarely involve other teams. Problem are managed within the team with the occasional support from surrounding system teams or network teams. Once you go to production however problems often become the affair of many teams.
The Workflow Aspect
How the team work with a defect is not the same for something found in a production environment, for obvious reasons. In a normal development workflow you can choose what code go to production, but for a defect found in production you do not have that choice. This is why you bypass the normal workflow and use hotfix, which is a fast track to correct problems in production environments.
Two ways of working, two types of defects
Based on the fact that we do have different processes for a defect found in production and for a defect found in the lower environments we should separate the issues themselves. This is not just to make it easier to identify in for example Jira, but also since there can be differences in who will manage the defect and the process to manage the defect itself. It also allow us to define the defects differently.
Defects are problems that prevent acceptance.
If there is a defect, then acceptance should not be given. It is a problem that only affect the legal aspects of an agreement. It can cause delays, which in turn can damage the company financially, but it will not affect the end user as it has never been released. By definition a defect is considered an internal problem and solving it involve only the development team within the standard way of workflow. It is simply development not yet complete.
The severity of a defect determine when in time it should be fixed based on dependencies withing the project as well as surrounding systems.
Defects are considered free since they are part of the development agreement.
In Jira a defect is placed inside a development to block it from going into production.
Incidents are problems that can damage the company.
An incident found in production is available to end user and as such it can cause damage to the company. It can cause disruption of service, it can damage the brand perception or even cause direct impact on sales. Solving this problem often involve multiple teams and it require a separate workflow that disrupt the standard workflow.  By definition this is an external problem and it can cause legal issues as it is found after acceptance has been given.
The severity of the incident determine when in time it should be fixed based on the damage it causes.
Incidents always comes with a cost, which usually is some form of support or maintenance agreement.
In Jira an incident is a standalone issue that is handled as development task.

 
This is my way of defining the differences between a defect and an incident. I have found that by making this distinction I can design better workflows in Jira that make incidents more visible. I can also use this in Jira Service Desk and other systems and by separating the two types I am not limiting the different workflows and I do not have to bloat the workflow by combining the two into one.
Do you agree with my definition?
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

Atlassian's free version is a money grab - no control over permissions

Atlassian promoted their Free version of Jira Cloud recently as their way to help remote teams during the Corona crisis. Like many I thought this was great and I moved over from the normal trial version I had. Today all my projects was gone and I just realized that the free version is severely reduced in function. It is in my opinion nothing more than a money grab to lure people in and make them upgrade to the $10 version.
To trick people to sign up for a service without telling them that you are limiting the experience is a shady thing to do. To remove something as important as permissions for no apparent reason other than forcing people into buying another license is just greedy. The $10 version has always been something of a gift from Atlassian where they donated the money they made to charity. It feel so bad that now that they add a free version, which actually does not impact Atlassian's profit in any way, they water it down and remove features.
That is just bad.

 
I don't really care if Atlassian offer a limited version, but make sure you clearly market it as such. On the free site they do not mention this at all. I may have missed this when I made the change, but I did not see this when making the change from the standard $10 I was using and I sure as hell did not get any warning that the custom permissions I have configured would not be usable in the free version.
I think it's unworthy for a company like Atlassian to abandon their previous practice of providing a $10 version that allow people to try out their products before they commit to a larger license model. To go out and promote the free version as some form of gift to help people to collaborate in an open and transparent way and they reduce the product by removing permissions is just not what I would expect from Atlassian.
I can see no other reason than that this is a shady way to introduce people to Jira and then force them to upgrade to a "full version". That is such a long way from the caring and giving Atlassian of old...
So if you have a license with custom permissions, if you want to manage permissions or if you like me educate people and need public access, then do not use the watered down and limited free version. If you are looking for a free tool to manage your tasks I am afraid I will not recommend Jira anymore...
I am very disappointed.
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

When is a defect not a defect - the different flavors of errors in development

When working with IT projects you can not help but to run into defects and issues in different environments that require fixes. Strangely enough this is often poorly defined and I have seen some creative ways to manage the many different things that is being called defects. So what is a defect really and if something that is not working is not a defect, what is it and how do we handle those?
Defect. Bug. Incident. You have probably heard all of them mentioned, probably in the same development project even. Maybe you are one of those unfortunate ones that even have something as weird as a "defect type" to define what type of defect you are dealing with? Well, you are not alone. This is a common issue in many organizations and in this article I will describe my point of view on this subject.
What is a defect, for real?
This is the ONLY definition of a defect.
I know a lot of people will object to this because defects can be found that is not described in a functional, or non-functional, requirement. This is true, but you forget that we always have implicit requirements such as that the system should work as intended.  This means that all defects can be tied to a specific requirement, or to an implicit requirement.
The only issue with this is that for some tests it can be hard to actually connect a defect to a specific requirement. This happens especially with exploratory testing and in large, complex solutions. That is perfectly ok and you should not spend time finding the exact requirement if it does not have a positive impact on the work process itself. We want to improve the quality of the system after all, not build the perfect documentation.
The different types of defects
As a Jira expert who design workflows for many organizations I sometimes get asked to add a custom field for labeling defects in different ways. The answer is always no. You can not have different types of defects because it is either something that is not working according to a requirement or it is not. It is as simple as that. Adding labels to defects is just a band-aid for a work processes that does not work.
Common labels people want to use in these situations are:
Not a Defect - This one is hilarious to me. If it is not a defect, then just close it and move on. No need to have it open with a label saying it is not a defect. That is just a sign of uncertainty from the team that you do not have the courage to actually close things. System issue - This is a label that again is just stupid. It is still a defect, you are just pointing towards someone else to blame for the mess. Don't add a label, just hand it over to another team. New Requirement - You can not have a defect that is also a new requirement for obvious reasons. If this was timetravel you would just be responsible for creating an endless loop. Close the defect and create a new requirement, or change the defect to a new requirement. Changed Requirement - This is just petty and a bit cowardly because if you are dealing with unclear requirements then you bring that up as a problem and fix it. If you have a proper requirement process, then this will never occur, so just close the defect if someone change the requirement after development starts and add a new development task for it. Don't feed the trolls that are responsible for poor requirement management, squash them and get things working the way they should. Design bug - Design is part of the requirement process. If you have a defect because the design was updated, then see my comment on changed requirement. If you did not follow the design specification, then it's just a defect. Can Not Reproduce - Well, that happens and what you do is that you make sure you have steps to reproduce and that you talk to the reporter. If you can not reproduce despite that, then you just close the defect. Wrong Team - Well, then just reassign the defect to the right team then. This is just lazy... In most cases labels like these are invented because the team do not feel comfortable bringing up that the requirement and test process have issues. Rather than adding labels to passively stick it in the face of the people in charge, I suggest you instead add other types of data to be added to every defect:
Steps to reproduce - This is a must and it should be detailed so anyone can verify. I usually say that the reporter should ask the janitor or receptionist to verify the steps to reproduce before submitting the defect. If this is not clear, then close the defect with can not reproduce. Eventually people will learn how to write this properly out of sheer frustration. Better yet is to help educate the reporters so they get this right. Environment - Where was this found. All development should be done in 4 environments: Development, Test, Pre-prod and production. All defects should be found in test or pre-prod. Defects found in production are incidents and defects found in development just means that the development is not done yet. Affected Version - Not always applicable, but if you do not have continuous deploys several times a day all the way to production, then you should have a controlled versioning system. Anything deployed to test and pre-prod have a version, even if it is just a tag. So make sure you ask that this is added as it will help you understand what code base the defect is present in. It also make the reporters more inclined to keep track of the code deploys. Connected Requirement - This can help reducing the problem with "nagging" or scope creep. That is when you get defects that have no basis in the requirements, but are usually new requirements. If this is a big issue, then make this mandatory or close defects without this field until the reporters learn what a defect actually is. Component, Module or System - Useful to make sure the right team get the defect if you are in a multi team setup with multiple components or systems. Stop working with poorly defined defects and take control over the process for reporting defects. Crappy defects exist for a reason and while it may be very difficult to speak up in some cases you should always try. Bad defect processes will impact morale and system stability.
Remember: A defect is when the solution does not match the agreed requirements.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman

Treat people well when they leave and keep your ambassadors!

So, one of your employees are leaving the company. Your first instinct is to kick them out as fast as possible and if something goes wrong you probably will not go out of your way to fix the situation. This is a terrible idea as you will make that person less inclined to talk well about you in the future!
The employee have spent time in your company and they probably liked you when they started. Had hopes and dreams of what the time with you would be that either was not fulfilled or their dreams changed during the time with you.
Unless you already screwed up your relation with the employee by being a bad company that care more about your spreadsheets than the heroes that work for you, then you have a great opportunity when someone leave. You can both learn how to be a better company and secure an ambassador that will work for you even after they leave the company!
Leaving a company is usually done with relief if the time have been less than enjoyable or with guilt if it have been a great time. Regardless of what situation you can turn it to something good by simply being nice and support the employee. Just express that you are sorry that they are leaving and then go out of your way to make the transition as easy as possible for them.
I am not saying that you should trip all over yourself to get rid of them, but take some time to sit down with them and go over what will happen next so they feel that you are there for them. Have lunch with them and have some laughs and reminisce about good times you hopefully have together.
Ask them about the reason for moving on without trying to push the issue. Some people don't want to tell you their reasons so respect that. Most importantly if something during the transition to end the employment is causing issues for the employee, then fix it. Even if it is a cost involved and your instinct is to not spend money on someone that is leaving, take that cost because it is an investment!
On that last day of the employment have a moment together with as many as you can to say goodbye to the employee. Show that you will miss the person and give a gift that really matter. Don't give them a book (unless they really like books), but give them something that is a little expensive, but still not to much.
My favorite is an iPad mini in gold with an inscription on the back saying something like "We will miss you like crazy Name! - Company Name". It's a little pricy, but the value you get in return is worth a thousand times more. You can also add a little poster or something where everyone closest to the employee have written their names and a nice farewell message (personalized if possible).
A former employee will talk about you, that is natural as you have been in their life for a while and work is the majority of our time after all. You can dictate how that conversation will go based on how the last few weeks are with your company.
If you treat them well and go out of your way to show that they have been an important part of the company and that them leaving does not change your perception of them, then they leave with nothing but good will in their hearts.
For as long as they can remember you they will speak well of you and if they should not be happy in their new workplace chances are that they will remember you and possibly ask to come back. Having that iPad means that every time they use it that feeling will be reinforced as well and most people do use the iPad quite a bit.
There is an old saying that say that even if you have had the best vacation in your life with the best hotel, great weather and the best time of your life, all it takes is a bad experience on the flight home to ruin the experience. The last experience is what we remember most.
So if you give an employee a bad experience leaving the company, or worse screw them over so they get mad they will speak of that forever. As they know inside information about your company they will speak loudly to anyone that listen about every little detail you make look bad and sooner or later that will cost you business for sure.
So treat your employees well while they work for you so they don't want to leave and should they still want to leave, make it the best experience possible. In return you will have someone that will speak well of you and they will defend you long after they have left your company.
It's the smart, and right, move to make.
Jimi Wikman
💫 Jimi Wikman