Top JIRA Interview Questions and Answers

This section covers frequently asked JIRA interview questions, focusing on its workflow, reporting features, issue management, and other key functionalities.

What is JIRA?

JIRA is a popular software development and project tracking tool created by Atlassian. It's used to manage issues, bugs, and tasks, particularly within Agile development methodologies. The name "JIRA" comes from the Japanese word for Godzilla.

JIRA Workflow

A JIRA workflow defines how issues progress through different statuses (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done). Transitions link these statuses, representing how an issue moves from one stage to the next.

A typical workflow might include:

• Open: Issue created and assigned.
• In Progress: Developer is working on the issue.
• Resolved: Issue fixed, awaiting testing.
• Reopened: Issue testing failed; sent back to the developer.
• Closed: Issue fixed and verified.

JIRA Report Types

JIRA generates various reports to track project progress:

• Average Age Report: Shows the average time unresolved issues have existed.
• Created vs. Resolved Issues Report: Compares the number of created and resolved issues over time.
• Pie Chart: Visualizes issues grouped by a specific field (priority, assignee, etc.).
• Recently Created Issue Report: Tracks the creation and resolution rate of new issues.
• Resolution Time Report: Shows the time taken to resolve issues.
• Single Level Group By Report: Groups issues by a chosen field without a visual chart.
• Time Since Issue Report: Shows the number of issues based on a selected date field (e.g., created date).

Creating an Issue in JIRA

1. Click the "+" button.
2. Select the project, issue type (Bug, Task, Story, etc.), and assign a summary.
3. Set the priority.
4. Click "Create".

Sharing Issues in JIRA

1. Open the issue.
2. Click the "Share" button.
3. Enter the usernames, email addresses, or groups of users you want to share the issue with.

JIRA Dashboards

A JIRA dashboard is a customizable screen showing various gadgets and widgets that provide an overview of project status and progress. Administrators and users can personalize their dashboards.

Scheduling Issues in JIRA

You can set due dates for issues using the "Due Date" field. JIRA provides search and reporting features based on these due dates.

Project Details in JIRA

A JIRA project has attributes like project name, key, components, and versions. The Activity Stream shows recent activities related to the project or specific issues.

Issue Types in JIRA

JIRA issue types vary depending on the project type (Core, Software, or Service Desk).

• Jira Core: Task, Sub-task
• Jira Software: Bug, Epic, Story, Task, Sub-task
• Jira Service Desk: Change, IT Help, Incident, New Feature, Problem, Service Request, Service Request with Approval, Support

Creating Sub-tasks

1. Open the parent issue.
2. Click the "Create sub-task" button.
3. Provide details for the sub-task.

Cloning Issues

Cloning an issue creates a duplicate copy within the same project. The clone is a separate entity linked to the original.

Kanban Boards

Kanban boards are visual tools for managing workflow. They help visualize the flow of work, limit work in progress, and improve efficiency.

JIRA: Kanban, Scrum, and Workflow Configuration

This section explores JIRA's Kanban and Scrum boards, reporting features, and workflow configuration, including validators.

Kanban vs. Scrum

Both Kanban and Scrum are Agile methodologies, but they differ in their approach to managing work. Scrum uses sprints (time-boxed iterations), and a sprint backlog defines the work for a sprint. Kanban is more flow-based; it doesn't use sprints. The main difference is the presence of a sprint backlog in Scrum, which is absent in Kanban.

Kanban Board

A Kanban board visualizes workflow using columns representing stages of work (To Do, Doing, Done). The "Limit" feature restricts the number of tasks in progress, promoting focus and efficiency.

Scrum Board

A Scrum board visually displays the user stories and tasks within a sprint. Columns represent different workflow stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done).

Kanban Reports in JIRA

• Control Chart: Tracks team performance over time by visualizing average cycle times and identifying outliers (issues taking significantly longer to complete than average).
• Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD): Shows the amount of work in each stage over time. It helps identify bottlenecks and track team throughput.

Scrum Reports in JIRA

• Burndown Chart: Tracks the remaining work in a sprint against time. It helps monitor progress and identify potential issues.
• Burnup Chart: Shows the cumulative completed work compared to the total planned scope.

Components in JIRA

Components are sub-sections within a JIRA project. They're used to organize and group issues.

Deleting a Component in JIRA

1. Go to the Components section.
2. Click the "..." icon for the component you want to delete.
3. Select "Delete".

Validators in JIRA

Validators enforce rules on issue fields before transitions. If a validator fails, the transition is blocked.

• Required Field Validators: Ensure a field is filled.
• Regular Expression Validators: Check if an input matches a specific pattern.
• Field Compare Validators: Compare two fields (using operators like >, <, =, etc.).
• Date Compare Validators: Compare a date field to a specific date or pattern.
• User in Project Role Validator: Restricts transitions based on user roles.
• User in Group Validator: Restricts transitions based on user groups.
• User in Field Validator: Checks if the current user is assigned to a particular field.
• Parent Issue Type Validator: Prevents sub-tasks from being created on incorrect parent issues.
• Parent Issue Status Validator: Restricts sub-task creation based on the parent issue's status.
• Field Values Changed Validator: Checks if the values of specific fields have changed.
• JQL Validator: Uses JIRA Query Language (JQL) to validate an issue against a specified query. It allows for custom error messages and specifying the user context for evaluation.

JIRA Issue Collectors

Issue collectors allow users to submit feedback or report issues as JIRA issues, even without a JIRA account. This is useful for gathering feedback directly from users who don't have access to your JIRA instance.

Scrum vs. Kanban

Components in JIRA

Components in JIRA are sub-sections within a project, allowing you to break down projects into smaller, more manageable parts.

Deleting a Component in JIRA

1. Navigate to the project's Components section.
2. Select the component to be deleted.
3. Click the "..." menu.
4. Choose "Delete".