I was recently discussing with someone whether I think Jira is a “good tool” for agile teams. (Spoiler alert: I don’t—I’ll explain why later)

But what makes a tool “good”?

There are different ways to look at it, but two key things I think are important:

• It should make useful things easier to do

  This is probably pretty obvious. A hammer is useful because it makes it easier to drive nails. You may be able to drive nails with something else—say a rock, the sole of your shoe, or the handle of a screwdriver. But a hammer makes it easier.

• Possibly it should make unuseful things harder to do

  This one is more applicable for more complex tools. Think of the “enabling constraints” that tools enable. Guard rails along a road or walkway are the go-to example. They make something easier (staying on the path), but more important, they make unuseful things (falling off the path) harder.