Why We Replaced Jira With Something That Understands How We Staff Projects

The build

Projqo is the platform Aipxperts built to run its own client work: issues, sprints, reporting and monthly developer resourcing in one system, replacing a third-party tool we were paying for.

It is an internal product, which is why there is no public marketing site behind it.

The problem

We ran on Jira. Jira is a capable product and it handled issues and sprints perfectly well. The problem was not tracking work. It was tracking who would be doing it next month. An agency's central planning question is resourcing: which developers are allocated to which client, for how many days, in which month. That question drives revenue forecasting, hiring, and whether we can say yes to a new project. Off-the-shelf project tools model sprints and boards because that is what product teams need. They do not model monthly developer allocation across a portfolio of clients, because product teams do not have that problem. So the work lived in two places. Delivery in Jira, resourcing in spreadsheets alongside it, with the connection between them maintained by hand. Add a recurring licence cost for a tool solving half the problem, and rebuilding became the reasonable option rather than the indulgent one.

What we built

Projqo covers the standard ground, issues, sprints and reporting, and then adds the part that made it worth building.

The outcome

Before

Jira for delivery, spreadsheets for monthly resourcing, a manual connection between the two, and a recurring licence cost for a tool covering half the need.

After

one internal platform holding issues, sprints, reporting and monthly developer resourcing in the same database, with Jira sync retained for migration and Slack and Teams notifications built in.