Tempo logotype

Don’t buy a Jira time in status app

From Team '23

Tempo Team

There’s almost a dozen dedicated time in status Jira reporting apps on the Atlassian Marketplace. But none of them are worth buying. Why? Because the leading no-code custom reporting app on the Marketplace, Custom Charts for Jira and Confluence, has a time in status feature.

Buying a time in status app now would be like buying a dumbphone instead of a smartphone. You’d be buying a phone that does one thing, i.e. calls and texts, versus a phone that lets you surf the internet, video-call, buy stuff, do your banking, take photos, make a film, play games, listen to music, control the heating and security in your home, cook the dinner…

Likewise, you could buy a time in status app that lets you report on:

  • time in status

Or you could buy an app like Custom Charts for Jira and Confluence, which lets you report on:

  • time in status

  • issue history

  • sprint progress

  • sprint velocity

  • epic progress

  • project health

  • workload distribution

  • service-level agreements

  • organizations

  • blockers

  • customer satisfaction

  • story points

  • saved filters

  • custom Jira Query Language

  • 3rd party Marketplace app data

  • frankly, if we list everything, we’ll be here all day

Both Custom Charts and the time in status-only apps are capable of answering the questions we have about how long issues are taking to move through the workflow. These answers help us discover process problems and blockages. You’re able to see how time in status compares between sprints, epics, and assignees and identify sprints that may be too complicated, epics that aren’t being prioritized, and assignees who could have too much on their plate. You can also monitor cycle time and lead time and see whether your actual time spent matches your estimates.

Time in status data you just don’t need

A dedicated time in status app like Time in Status by OBSS or Time in Status by SaaSJet lets you drill down a lot further into your time in status data and display more details in your reports. For example, OBSS’s tool lets you create a “Time Period Duration Per Status” report. This shows the time in status per issue in a list and, instead of showing a single value, divides the amount of time an issue has been in a status into time periods.

But why would anyone need to know how long something’s been in “to do” from month to month? Really, you just need to know the total time and whether it’s a problem.

There probably are use cases for many granular reports that come with time in status-only apps, but honestly, we can’t think of any. Which means the use case is too narrow and rare to justify purchasing a whole app.

No data visualization

The biggest problem with all the dedicated time in status apps is that nearly all of their reports are tables and grids. Take a look at OBSS’s report types and you’ll see that not a single one of those reports is visually appealing. Same goes for SaaSJet’s time in status reports.

These apps missed the memo on the importance of data visualization. Let’s make no bones about it, reporting without data visualization will fail. Our brains can’t process raw data presented in tables unless we sit and pore over it for hours. We certainly can’t process it at a glance. Why? Because the brain absorbs visuals 60,000 times faster than text. This means, if you want to communicate a key insight in a 10-minute update meeting, none of those time in status-only reports are any good.

Instead you need attractive and fully tailored visuals to engage audiences and compel them to action in a short space of time. This is what Custom Charts for Jira and Confluence is all about. It’s not really a reporting app; it’s a data visualization app, with 10 chart types, a full color picker, and tons of flexibility over how your Jira data is presented.

Dedicated time in status apps create bottlenecks

Sometimes you need to take a deep dive into the raw data, and you can do this with Custom Charts. You can make tables and lists of issue data if you need to get granular. And indeed, you can make tables and lists of time in status information for individual Jira issues if you like.

But do you need to? Time in status is supposed to be about spotlighting bottlenecks. If you spend hours upon hours upon days deep-diving into how long one issue is in “to do”, goddammit, you are a bottleneck.

This is the ultimate problem with the dedicated apps. The reports they produce are so bogged down in detail that they don’t speed up the search for bottlenecks. They make it worse.

So if you want to remove bottlenecks, not become them, try Custom Charts for Jira and Custom Jira Charts for Confluence free for a month. And never think about buying a Jira time in status app again.

Try it free for 30 days

Free Trial

Explore More Content

Strategic Portfolio Management

Strategic Portfolio Management

Modern modular PPM solutions that scale with your business. Align your teams with the integrated platform that bridges the gap between strategy and execution.

Learn more

Get the data you need to succeed

Time Tracker

Extend your Jira with prebuilt and highly configurable reports for straightforward time tracking.

Learn more

Unified time and team management

Integration: Timesheets and Capacity Planner

Seamlessly manage project timelines and resources while accurately tracking time spent on tasks. This integration enhances visibility, improves planning accuracy, and supports data-driven decision-making for better overall project outcomes.

Learn more

For planning leaders looking to add a big-picture roadmap view to their structured Jira data, this integration is essential. Improve visibility to leadership, reduce reporting admin, and keep your team aligned.

Learn more

Jira Project Cost Tracking

Financial Manager

Project financial management for Jira & Timesheets. Monitor project costs, expenses, revenue, billing & budgets. Track Capex/Opex

Go to marketplace

AI-enabled capacity visualization

Capacity Insights - Open Beta

Deliver visibility into how your team's time and efforts align with business objectives and project ROI - without the manual effort

Learn more

Agile at Scale Software

Agile at Scale

Adapt to changing business needs, rapidly adjust plans, and reallocate investment.

Learn more

Unified time and team management

Integration: Timesheets and Structure

Combining Tempo Timesheets and Structure PPM provides a unified view of time tracking and project progress, enabling more accurate reporting and effective portfolio management. Simplify workflows, enhance collaboration, and ensure projects stay on time and within budget.

Learn more

Jira Team & Resource Management

Capacity Planner

#1 Jira Resource Management App: Optimize team allocation, skillset utilization, capacity planning & project management

Go to marketplace

No more reporting limitations

Custom Charts for Confluence

Create and share all kinds of highly visual and customizable charts directly on your Confluence pages.

Learn more

Roadmapping software for teams of all sizes

Strategic Roadmaps (Roadmunk)

The roadmapping tool designed for high-performing teams delivering boardroom-ready strategic roadmaps.

Learn more

Real-time collaboration and capacity planning in Jira

Capacity Planner

A powerful team resource management tool designed to optimize capacity planning and project management in Jira

Learn more

Monitor financial health at every level

Financial Manager for Timesheets

Monitor projects and portfolios to get simple, clear, and real-time views of your costs, budgets, and profits that can be shared throughout your entire organization.

Learn more

No-code Tableau Jira integration

Tableau Connector for Jira

Effortlessly bridge Jira with Tableau, unlocking unparalleled insights and enhancing decision-making

Learn more

Jira Portfolio Management PPM

Structure by Tempo

Jira Project Portfolio Management (PPM): Visualize data and manage projects within spreadsheet-like tables — in less than a minute

Go to marketplace

Time Tracking Software for Jira

Timesheets

Tempo’s intuitive automation and Jira-native design make it the most trusted time tracking tool for enterprise organization.

Learn more

Jira Time Tracking

Timesheets by Tempo

#1 Jira Time Tracking & AI Apps: Log Tempo Timesheets for Planning, Project Management & Billing. Plugin Office365, Google & Slack

Go to marketplace

Align your organization with proactive portfolio management

Portfolio Manager (LiquidPlanner)

Predictive scheduling and the ability to forecast project timelines and spot risks so you can meet deadlines with confidence.

Learn more

Jira ITSM Solutions with Tempo

ITSM

Build and scale a custom ITSM solution at your own pace with Tempo's modular suite of integrated tools. Enhance Jira's capabilities and take control of your entire IT portfolio.

Learn more
Colleagues interacting around a desk

No-Code Power BI Jira Integration

Power BI Connector for Jira

Effortlessly bridge Jira with your preferred BI tool, unlocking unparalleled insights and enhancing decision-making

Learn more

Custom charts and dashboards for Jira

Custom Charts for Jira

See how work is progressing and where blockers are with the most flexible reporting app in Jira.

Learn more

No-code BigQuery Jira integration

BigQuery Connector for Jira

Integrate Jira with Google BigQuery to seamlessly export and sync data for advanced analytics and customized reporting

Learn more

Centralize real-time plans in one view

Integration: Structure and Gantt Charts

Gain a more complete project management solution, simplifying project reporting, improving collaboration, and ensuring projects stay on time and within budget.

Learn more

Take control of your projects

Integration: Portfolio Manager and Jira

Portfolio Manager integrates seamlessly with Jira to give you predictive scheduling, real-time scenario modeling, and advanced resource management – ensuring you stay on track, no matter what challenges arise.

Learn more

Industry-leading project plan and roadmap visualizations with a Gantt chart extension

Gantt Charts for Structure PPM

Visualize project plans and roadmaps with a Gantt chart extension for Jira

Learn more

Project and program management for Jira

Structure PPM

Visualize all your Jira data & manage portfolios of projects in real-time.

Learn more

Powered by Structure’s custom hierarchies, visualize your roadmap, project plans, timeline & dependencies within Jira Gantt charts

Go to marketplace

Never lose track of a brilliant idea again

Idea Manager for Strategic Roadmaps

Never lose a brilliant idea again. Idea Manager for Strategic Roadmaps has built-in best practices to help.

Learn more