Ready for an SDLC shakeup? The good, the bad, and the ugly of managing requirements and tests in Atlassian

💌 A personal note from Rina Nir

If you are responsible for delivering new software products or rolling out IT systems, you care about SDLC - a lot.
Industries like life sciences, MedTech, aviation, and automotive have long had to adhere to strict and well-documented SDLC processes, mainly to keep things safe—like making sure planes don't fall from the sky!
Two significant trends are prompting all industries, not just those that are regulated, to rethink their approach to the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

Traditionally, regulated systems and products were delivered in long, slow cycles, which is no longer acceptable. Regulated teams now need and want to move faster.

On the other hand, non-regulated teams have discovered that product failures can be extremely costly, even for products that are not subject to regulation. A notable example is the CrowdStrike outage from July 2024. A small flaw in the widely used CrowdStrike Falcon software led to billions of dollars in losses for banks, healthcare providers, and airlines. Investigations after the outage revealed that improved testing practices were necessary to prevent such issues from recurring.

Whatever trends affect you, your developers are likely already using Jira extensively. Integrating requirements and tests into Jira is an appealing idea. For fans of Atlassian, the benefits are clear; however, the steps to achieve this are not obvious. Even Atlassian does not market Jira as a requirements management platform because it lacks some expected features.

For many years, I have assisted teams in transitioning their Software Development Life Cycles (SDLC) to Jira and Confluence. I've guided teams from initial brainstorming sessions about integrating SDLC within Atlassian to successful implementation, rollout, and the resulting benefits.

I'm a Business Analyst working for a large Life Sciences organization. Prior to this role I worked for one of the largest drug distributors in the U.S. Both of these companies were desperate for a solution to trace requirements that would not only satisfy compliance needs (GMP, FDA, ISO 13485, etc.), but permit Agile development teams to use the Jira tools they love. We attempted to implement small purpose-built applications for requirements traceability available in the Atlassian Marketplace, but they did not come nearly close enough to meeting our needs. Luckily I came across a YouTube webinar hosted by RadBee that brilliantly described how using a handful of Atlassian plugins along with Snapshots could satisfy our compliance needs This year I have sat with experienced consultants for days on end testing the viability of the solution, and every time it has been determined this the best solution available at any price to achieve what we need to achieve while keeping the solution 100% within the Atlassian ecosystem. We have only recently began deploying software and using this system, and it is going well. This system allows us to include documentation in our "definition of done" without the need to extend our sprints to make time for the documentation.Indeed, this journey is not without its perils. Transforming the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is not a simple task. However, based on my experience, moving requirements and tests into Atlassian can be accomplished in a few months if you have the right knowledge, skills, and team.

Lee Pfortmiller, Senior Business Analyst at Caris Life Sciences

Indeed, this journey is not without its perils. Transforming the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is not a simple task. However, based on my experience, moving requirements and tests into Atlassian can be accomplished in a few months if you have the right knowledge, skills, and team. It's a worthwhile effort. Moving your SDLC to Atlassian brings your team together on a great project management platform, turning your multidisciplinary group of individuals into a smoothly working team.

In this series, my goal is to support anyone contemplating this transition or perhaps stuck midway. You will gain insights into what the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) can look like within the Atlassian suite and learn how to plan for such a transformation effectively.

Chapters

Here are the chapters I plan to release over the Summer: