Connect Jira with Microsoft Teams: How MotoRad supports collaboration

Organizations can connect Jira with Microsoft Teams to combine structured work management with a communication tool that employees already know. Jira remains the place for planning, assigning and tracking work. Meanwhile, employees can participate in relevant conversations through Microsoft Teams.

At Atlassian Team in Anaheim, Brian Helms of MotoRad Ltd. explained how his team uses this approach. MotoRad manufactures automotive parts and relies heavily on Microsoft tools across the organization. Brian’s core team uses Jira boards, backlogs and epics to manage work. However, many other employees only need to contribute information or join specific discussions. Brian’s comments reflect his own experience. They do not represent or imply endorsement by MotoRad. Nevertheless, his use case demonstrates how organizations can extend Jira-supported workflows without requiring every participant to work directly in Jira.

The challenge: Not every participant needed Jira

When Brian moved into a global director role, he wanted to avoid managing his team through email. As organizations grow, email threads make it harder to identify responsibilities, priorities and outstanding tasks. He introduced Jira to create a more structured workflow. A Kanban board shows current activities, while the backlog and epics organize upcoming and related work.

Brian explained that this structure allows his team to operate without constant supervision. However, Jira was unfamiliar to many other MotoRad employees. These colleagues already used Microsoft Teams for daily communication. They sometimes needed to answer questions or participate in discussions, but they did not necessarily need to manage work directly in Jira. Brian estimated that approximately ten people required direct Jira access, while up to 90 additional employees might contribute to individual topics.

Why MotoRad chose to connect Jira with Microsoft Teams

Using Microsoft 365 for Jira, Brian’s core team can create and manage work items in Jira. When wider input is required, team members can start a Microsoft Teams conversation from the relevant work item. This workflow allows MotoRad to:

• Manage responsibilities and progress in Jira.
• Involve additional employees through Microsoft Teams.
• Associate discussions with the relevant Jira work.
• Create several conversations for different stakeholder groups.
• Organize meetings in the context of a work item.
• Reduce the need to copy information between tools.

People without Jira license can still join collaboration in Microsoft Teams. This does not extend Jira access to those participants. Instead, the integration links the Teams conversation to the Jira work item, allowing them to contribute in Teams while the core team continues to manage the work in Jira (See the yasoon documentation on linked Teams conversations for more details).

What changed for MotoRad after connecting Jira with Microsoft Teams

Brian identified three main benefits. First, relevant dialogue stays connected to the work. The Jira team can review discussions without searching through unrelated chats or requesting manual summaries.

Second, occasional participants can continue using Teams. They do not need to learn the complete Jira interface simply to answer a question or provide input.

Third, the familiar Teams experience supports gradual Jira adoption. Employees can see Jira-supported processes working before deciding whether they need direct access. Cost was also an important factor for Brian. MotoRad could focus direct Jira access on the people managing work.

What Jira administrators can learn from this use case

Before connecting the platforms, administrators should:

• Choose a workflow where fragmented communication causes delays or missing context.
• Identify who needs to manage work directly in Jira and define which employees only need to participate in conversations.
• Decide which information must remain in Jira as the structured record.
• Plan the setup. Make sure the Teams integration is deployed and the required Microsoft 365 access is approved.
• Pilot the workflow with one team before expanding it.

In Jira Cloud, administrators can also use Presets within Microsoft 365 for Jira to configure participants, messages, sharing options, notifications and automations for recurring conversations.

Bringing Jira work and Teams communication together

Brian’s experience shows how a small Jira-based team can collaborate with a much wider group through Microsoft Teams. Jira provides structure, ownership and visibility. Teams gives occasional participants a communication channel they already understand.

The goal is not to replace Jira with Teams. It is to give each participant an appropriate way to contribute while keeping the work organized. Organizations that want to connect Jira with Microsoft Teams should begin with clear user roles, a specific workflow and carefully reviewed permissions.

This foundation can improve communication and support wider Jira adoption without forcing every employee into the same tool.