Within the large market of project management software, Jira is no doubt one of the bigger players – it offers a variety of features and supports large enterprises all over the world. At first look, most would not think a small startup from Lithuania could offer any competition to the giant. However, we believe, a few key aspects make Eylean Board a true competitor in this race.
In their essence the two tools are quite different – one is created for large enterprises, while the other focuses on the life of a team. However, at the end of the day, both are designed to do exactly the same – aid the company in the overall project management process. Looking at the tools this way reveals a couple of pivotal points that just might make you reconsider the superiority scale.
Creating and moving tasks
When managing a project, one of the first things you will want to do is to create and manage the tasks. You will expect the process to be quick and easy, however this is not what you get with the web interface in Jira. Instead, users often have to deal with lags and frustration when performing these miniature and absolutely necessary actions. With a smaller tool like Eylean, on the other hand, there are no lags whatsoever. You will manage the tasks with a simple drag and drop that will take no longer than a few seconds.
Navigating the board
Another important thing within any project management solution is being able to navigate and find the tasks on the board. Within Jira this process becomes more and more difficult as the number of tasks increases. In fact, anything over 50 tasks will result in the user having to scroll for an extended period of time. Here again, a smaller tool, with functionalities such as zooming in and out and filtering tasks based on the project, category or a specific team member becomes a more attractive option of the two.
Using the board
Being able to use the board in its intended purpose seems like a given with any project management tool, however many browser incompatibility issues poses another problem in Jira. Users have to deal with glitches auto selecting random parts of the content, taking a lot of time to scroll through tasks, even resizing the board. If you don’t need all the features Jira has to offer this might be another good reason to opt out for a simpler and smaller tool for your team.
Running at full capacity
Another thing to be expected by the large tool users is the crashes that occur when the tool is being used too excessively. While the tool is built to support enterprises, too many users doing too many things at one time result in software crashes and a complete stop of work. Here again, a less intricate tool offers an advantage of being able to work continuously without any interruptions.
The day to day of a team
Lastly, large tools are great to have as a unified system for large organizations – different departments throughout the company can use them without any additional modification or effort. For a small team use, however, it is a different story. A large tool like Jira becomes a burden by changing the teams’ daily activities rather than adapting to and enhancing them. Whereas a smaller tool created for a team enables them to improve their process.
There is no doubt Jira is a great choice for those looking to have one system for the whole organization. However, when there is no actual need for that, the teams in question should really consider the smaller, team oriented tools. Solutions like Eylean Board are focused on the needs and priorities of the small group, enabling them to organize, work more effectively and improve their process on their own pace. So if you are focused on your teams’ achievements, this might just be the right option.
