Glue vs Jira

Jira manages work. Glue understands code. Both important, different purposes.

What Jira Does

Jira is a work management tool:

• Create, assign, and track issues
• Organize by project, epic, sprint
• Link related issues
• Report on status and velocity
• Integration with development tools

Best for: Teams that need visibility into work status and team productivity.

What Glue Does

Glue analyzes code:

• Understands architecture and dependencies
• Estimates implementation impact
• Identifies technical risks
• Answers questions about code
• Generates documentation

Best for: Teams that need accurate estimates and understanding of technical constraints.

The Relationship

Jira says: "We're building feature X, assigned to John, 5 days of effort" Glue says: "Feature X requires changes to these 12 files, will take 7 days, creates technical debt in this module"

Jira answers: "Is this work getting done?" Glue answers: "Can we actually do this? What's the impact?"

Complementary Use

Many teams use both:

1. Jira: Create issue "Add payment processing"
2. Glue: Analyze impact → "Requires integrating with 3 existing services, estimate 10 days"
3. Jira: Update issue with estimate from Glue, assign, track progress
4. Jira: Mark complete when shipped

Jira without Glue: You track work, but estimates are often wrong Glue without Jira: You understand code, but don't manage execution