By Sachin Mohan · AIM Media House
Atlassian announced "agents in Jira" on Wednesday, a feature that lets teams assign tasks to AI agents exactly the same way they would assign work to human colleagues.
The update, now available in open beta, allows users of the company's project management software to assign and manage work for digital agents from the same dashboard they use for their human employees.
AI agents now show up as assignees with the same fields and patterns teams already know, with boards clearly indicating which tasks are with an agent, what state each work item is in, and how it fits into the sprint, release, or incident timeline.
For the millions of teams already using Jira for project management, this means they can start experimenting with AI agents without ripping out their existing infrastructure. The AI agent becomes just another resource, one that can handle repetitive tasks, process data, or flag issues that need human attention.
Atlassian frames the update around a core problem. Agents firing off work for individuals with no way to tie it back to the team's broader plans and goals.
Tamar Yehoshua , Atlassian's new chief product and AI officer, described the challenge directly saying, "You've been hearing in the zeitgeist lately that all of these agents are creating more work for people, and in some ways, more chaos." "What we're really good at is putting order to that chaos." "10x the work, without 10x the chaos" captures Atlassian's framing perfectly.
With agents in Jira, teams can assign work to agents, @mention agents in comments for further iteration, and cement agents directly into workflows. Admins decide which agents are available to whom, where they can be used, and what "done" looks like. Jira keeps track, so agents become accountable members of the team.
The exchange lives in the work item for everyone with permission to see.
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