The needs and wants of modern-day Project Managers (PMs) have evolved within the last few years. In light of the ongoing pandemic, the increasing popularity of Agile methodology, and the heightened importance of data analytics, a good PM is now a versatile PM.

One way PMs can achieve this is by using effective project management software. Jira and Confluence, along with Excel, stand as the most popular, and for good reasons. Although Jira and Confluence offer plentiful tools for project management and Excel provides in-depth analytical functionalities, the advent of recent trends means that to succeed, the two cannot exist separately.

In this article, you’ll find the pros and cons of Jira, Confluence, and Excel and learn how exactly you can harness the power of the three at once with the help of plugins.

Jira and Confluence’s Highs and Lows

Jira and Confluence are often seen as a match made in heaven. When properly used together, they combine the best Atlassian has to offer in terms of project management.

Highs

Let’s start with a couple of reasons why many love the duo:

Communication

Because Jira is designed to facilitate collaboration, PMs can seamlessly communicate with their teams via inline comments and issues while meticulously tracking progress, keeping everyone in the loop, from managers to stakeholders.

Single Source of Truth

Every project’s team will be composed of individuals with wholly different skill sets, backgrounds, and opinions. While you can’t standardize this, you can at least ensure everyone learns and works with the same knowledge, something especially important in the era of remote work. Using Confluence and Jira to set up a knowledge base and link relevant issues/tasks will help any team find common ground easily.

Lows

But the pair isn’t without fault. Here are some common quibbles:

Learning Curve

Jira and Confluence aren't the easiest tools to set up and start using. With countless functions and jargon - dashboards, screens, issues, spaces - it's easy for the inexperienced to feel overwhelmed. Further, also considering things like query language and the introduction of Confluence Cloud, you’d need a dedicated specialist to properly utilize everything.

Simple Tables

Tables are a low weak point for both Jira and Confluence. If you’re dealing with complex work (large team sizes, multiple variables), you’ll find yourself quickly hitting a wall. To make things worse, you won’t even be able to create all those graphs and charts we associate with Excel!

Excel’s Highs and Lows

Excel is another popular tool used by PMs, and with it being among the leading software for data visualization and interpretation, there’s little wonder.

Highs

Here are some reasons why Excel dominates:

Ease-of-Use

Excel is as elegant as it gets in terms of its clear user interface and easy-to-learn toolkit. It offers a host of features that’ll accommodate any project, from simple personal budgeting to audit reports for international businesses. Honestly, if you still find yourself intimidated by what’s available, you can rest easy knowing that there’s a wealth of learning resources available online.

Functionalities

Despite its simplicity, Excel still has a high skill ceiling. Excel offers powerful analytical tools that can handle complex calculations and draw connections between large data sets, making even Jira’s dashboard look overly basic. Everyone from data scientists to high schoolers uses Excel, after all!

Lows

But all isn’t perfect. Some common criticisms include:

Teamwork

PMs everywhere will attest to what many think is Excel’s biggest flaw: teamwork. No matter how pretty or complex your spreadsheet is, the fact remains that Excel doesn’t allow multiple users to work on a single document simultaneously. And even if you could, how can you track who’s responsible for what? Who’s not pulling their weight? What if you have multiple projects?

Not Project Management Oriented

Unlike Jira and Confluence, Excel was made to be a versatile product as opposed to a specialized tool for project management. Accordingly, you’ll find Excel lacking in this department. There’s no progress tracking, dependency creating, or task commenting features to be found here.

Best Addons to Unite Jira and Excel

By now, you should have gotten the hint that Excel, Jira, and Confluence can all fill in for what the other lacks. Thankfully, uniting them is easier than you’d assume.

Here are three nifty tools that’ll help you do this:

Excel-like Issue Editor for Jira

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The Excel-like Issue Editor for Jira makes dealing with Jira issues a painless experience with the help of Excel. Whether you’re dealing with 10 or 10,000 issues, you’ll be able to bulk edit and instantly update all of them without suffering from lag or error.

This is possible due to its Excel-like features that include its freeze column and sort and filter functions. Beyond this, PMs can also assign issues, alter issue priorities and due dates, as well as visualize the hierarchical relation of their project’s issues.

Backlog Grooming, in particular, will become a stress-free chore thanks to the app’s bulk edit functionality. This will undoubtedly shave off entire swathes of time that could otherwise be spent more efficiently by PMs.

Excel-like Tables for Jira

__Excel-like Tables for Jira__allows PMs to harness the power of Excel tables for all their Jira issues. This includes features like pivot tables, graphs, and charts.**
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Above all else, you’ll now be able to conduct detailed analyses of your datasets as opposed to just fitting them into a Jira table. With the help of over 400 unique Excel formulas that include the basic (e.g., SUM, AVERAGE) to the advanced (e.g. Bitwise), the sky’s the limit here.**
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So for PMs who need to conduct a little analysis, a product like this is ideal. You could, for instance, keep close tabs on expenses in Jira, and along with Excel’s features, visualize your findings with graphs and create budgetary forecasts with formulas.

Excel-like Tables for Confluence

Ever wished your Confluence tables had a little more oomph? Meet Excel-like Tables for Confluence. This free app will transform your Confluence spaces into something far more than just another knowledge base.

With an arsenal of tools to use that include filters, shapes, formulas, tables, and even CQL searchability, data analysis and visualization will all be possible here. Best of all, you aren’t limited anymore to Confluence’s limited range of project management templates; you now have access to Excel’s library of templates!

Thanks to the addon, you’ll even be able to take advantage of another project management tool: Gantt charts. They’re great for tracking projects and adding a further layer of transparency and accountability to projects. All you have to do is download a template to get started.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve seen how and why it’s imperative to unite Excel, Confluence, and Jira to bring out the most in project management, what’s stopping you?

Learn more about how you can harness Excel capabilities from right within Jira and Confluence here.