Jira Has Changed… and It’s Not Just Cosmetic

 

In March 2025, Atlassian began rolling out a new global navigation experience across all Jira Cloud products. It's one of the most visually noticeable updates in recent years, marking a departure from the familiar top-navigation bar and moving towards a left-hand, vertical sidebar that is consistent with other Atlassian tools like Confluence and Bitbucket.

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These days, many consultancies focus on how visually appealing the changes are — but overlook the practical impact these updates have on your day-to-day work. At Simplicity, we understand it’s not just about shiny new features — it’s about how these changes actually affect the way you work.

This latest update isn’t just a cosmetic refresh. It marks a fundamental shift in how users navigate projects, issues, filters, and global functions. Atlassian isn’t simply following modern UI trends — they’re redefining the way we interact with our workspaces.

And if your delivery model relies on portfolio-level visibility and a clear flow of initiatives, this change is too important to ignore. Keep reading to find out when this will impact you — and how to be ready for it.

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Further Reading – Atlassian Sources Worth Bookmarking

1. 📰 Jira’s Fresh Look and Navigation – Atlassian Community Article

2. 🛠️ Atlassian’s New Navigation (Platform-Wide)

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So… Why Should You Care?

"How will this impact me and what do I do about it?" – The Real-World Impact of This Change

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🔄 1. Initiative Planning Will Be Impacted – Immediately

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For those of us using Jira to capture the entire initiative lifecycle — from ideation in Jira Product Discovery through to roadmap planning in BigPicture, and execution across delivery teams — the new navigation changes how we trace work, move across layers of a project, and report upwards.

Key impact:
The collapse of top-level access to multiple views (e.g. Board, Roadmap, Reports) into a sidebar format changes muscle memory and the natural flow of PMO teams navigating between initiatives and cross-team activities.

💡 Tip: Your initiative planning workshops may now require updated materials and demo environments that reflect the new navigation to avoid confusion.

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🚧 2. PMO and Portfolio Management Dashboards Will Need Revisiting

If you're responsible for aligning delivery with strategy and are using dashboards, shared filters, and structured views like Epic hierarchies in Advanced Roadmaps or BigPicture, this change means more than aesthetics.

• Filters and Bookmarks: The new sidebar’s emphasis on “recent” and “pinned” items reduces reliance on deep navigation paths — meaning those customised sidebar experiences must be planned at an organisational level.

• Reporting Links and Guidance: If you've built out SharePoint or Confluence documentation around how to view reports or track program status, it's likely now outdated.

📊 Impact on PMO teams: The familiar layout many stakeholders use to “self-serve” will now behave differently, which can directly impact trust in reporting accuracy.

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📍 3. Your Delivery Framework Can’t Be Put on Pause

Let’s be real — you can’t stop your delivery engine just to realign with a UI update. But Atlassian also won’t wait forever. The final stages of this rollout will conclude by June 2025, at which point the old navigation experience will no longer be available.

⚠️ If your Jira setup is heavily reliant on custom issue types, team-managed vs. company-managed project nuances, or Jira Product Discovery → Jira Software → BigPicture integrations, then proactive mapping of the new navigation into your frameworks is critical.

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🔄 4. The Transition Period Is an Opportunity (But Also a Risk)

Atlassian’s phased rollout means users in the same organisation may be seeing different versions of Jira depending on when their instance updates. That creates a training challenge, particularly in environments with rotating contractors, external vendors, or departments new to Jira.

🧩 Solution: Consider this a moment to revise onboarding, training guides, and even internal video walkthroughs.

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🧭 5. Rebuild Trust in Navigation – Before It Becomes Noise

With many organisations using Jira for cross-functional governance, poor navigation can quickly spiral into team frustration. Here's where it hurts:

• Teams lose time finding things.

• PMOs field more requests to "just show me where it is."

• Execs skip Jira altogether and return to offline methods.

🎯 Our advice: Build navigation aids directly into the platform. Use the Announcement Banner, update Project Shortcuts, and create dashboards with instructional gadgets for common views.​

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🧠 Diagram: Old vs New Navigation Pathways

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[Before]

Jira > Top Nav > Projects > Project > Board/Roadmap

[After]

Jira > Sidebar > Projects (Pinned) > Navigation Panel > 

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The sidebar removes one layer of abstraction but requires more cognitive context to know where you're going. That’s fine for power users — not so for occasional viewers.

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🕰️ Final Rollout Month: June 2025

By June 2025, all users will be switched to the new navigation permanently.

What does this mean?

• If you haven’t audited your templates, training material, or delivery dashboards — now’s the time.

• If your PMO relies on multi-project dashboards, integrations, or Jira-based governance — you'll need a change management strategy in place.

• If your stakeholders rely on the “familiar Jira” — they will need help to keep up.

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🧩 Final Thoughts: The Shift Isn’t Optional — But It Can Be Strategic

This is not just a UI update. It's Atlassian nudging us all towards a more consolidated platform experience — and it’s our opportunity to bring PMO, delivery, and executive strategy even closer together using better practices, less clutter, and smarter configuration.

But if you don’t adapt quickly, you’ll fall into the usual trap: clunky workflows, frustrated teams, and disengaged sponsors.

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🤝 Need Help Mapping This Into Your Practice?

Whether you're managing an initiative pipeline, formalising PMO processes, or just trying to ensure Jira still makes sense to your business users — we can help.

At Simplicity Consulting, we specialise in aligning Atlassian platforms with your strategic goals — including portfolio planning, BigPicture, Jira Product Discovery, and enterprise-wide navigation training.

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If you want some advice or if you have any questions, just reach out​.