More about Jira Software permissions
Best practices for allocating permissions within an organization
For permissions, there are two main roles involved:
Jira admin
- Specifically responsible for the product
- Has deep expertise in the product
- Usually, within a team- they might be making configuration changes themselves or managing the team that makes the changes
- Actions requests from end users for configuration changes
- Most common in Enterprise organizations
Project admin
- Has the perspective to understand what their team needs from their project
- Role includes responsibility for how the project is used in their team
- Don’t have the time to spend making changes or undertaking configuration training
- Centralized admins trust Managers and Team Leads to take on this role
- Might also be a Subject Matter Expert (SME), Product Manager, Business Analyst or satellite IT manager
- These users might not have configuration permissions but still match this profile
We can apply this understanding of the needs of central admins and potential project admins to understand the criteria that determine the level of permissions a user should have:
Criteria for permission
1. The perspective to understand the needs of the group/s who will be affected by the changes.
Jira admin
Has the holistic perspective of the organization and various teams to make changes that affect multiple teams.
Project admin
Can make changes scoped to the teams whose needs they have insight into. This might be their team (as a manager) or the teams they work with directly (as operational support or as a Product Manager).
2. The responsibility for how the tool is used and managed
Jira admin
Has the responsibility for the product itself, ensuring that it works efficiently and serves the organization’s needs.
Project admin
At least part of their role is responsible for how the team is using the tool. They also have the capacity to think through how they could improve the way the team uses the tool.
3. The design skills to create configurations that solve team’s problems
Jira admin
A core part of their role is having the skills to understand the team’s problems and create configuration solutions to solve their problems. These solutions may be designed to be reused across the organization.
Project admin
This is not a core part of their role. They need enough understanding of their team’s needs to make small changes but not to create new solutions from the ground up.
4. The product expertise to make the changes without introducing risk
Jira admin
Need deep product expertise and experience to do their work efficiently and without introducing risk. This also helps them recover from mistakes they’ve made.
Project admin
Deep product expertise is not necessary for their role, and they are turned off configuration permissions if they think it will require significant product expertise or training. They need to be able to achieve their goals without becoming product experts.