Tools for Jira
Tools for monday.com
Managing knowledge and business processes effectively is key to reducing bottlenecks, supporting asynchronous collaboration, speeding up execution, and keeping team alignment.
Both Confluence and Google Docs are widely used tools, but they serve different purposes. In this article, I’ll break down the strengths and limitations of each and offer tips for improving your workflows.
What is Google Docs?
Google Docs is a cloud-based document editor that supports real-time collaboration. It allows users to draft, edit, and comment on documents simultaneously, making it an excellent tool for informal writing, team brainstorming, and quick reviews. Its strengths include:
- Real-time editing and inline commenting
- Simple, user-friendly interface that requires little to no training
- Seamless integration with Google Workspace, including Google Drive, Gmail, and Sheets
- Easy sharing via link or as an attachment
- Cloud-based and accessible on any device with internet access.
Additionally, many users are previously familiar with Microsoft Word, which served as the primary tool for document creation and editing before the rise of cloud-based tools like Google Docs. All these features make Google Docs an ideal choice for small teams, freelancers, and short-term document collaboration.
However, it’s not without its drawbacks. Despite its ease of use, Google Docs lacks the structure needed for long-term documentation or complex team collaboration.
- No structured hierarchy or navigation across multiple documents
- No built-in workflows, task tracking, or permissions for process control
- Difficult to manage large knowledge bases without folder discipline
- Limited collaboration features when scaling across multiple departments or projects
As documentation scales, the flat nature of Docs can lead to duplication, version confusion, and a lack of process alignment.
What is Confluence?
Confluence, developed by Atlassian, is a collaboration tool originally built as a team wiki. It has evolved into a full-featured platform for organizing structured knowledge bases and business processes.
It supports technical documentation, internal guides, project documentation, and ongoing knowledge management for growing teams.
Confluence comes with several strengths that make it especially suitable for teams that need more than just a place to write things down. It’s built for those who want to build and maintain a long-term, structured knowledge base that can scale as the team grows. Its strong points are:
- Hierarchical page organization (spaces, parent/child pages)
- Templates for process documentation, meeting notes, onboarding, and more
- Real-time collaboration with formatting options, macros, and Jira integrations
- Even with its strengths, Confluence comes with a few trade-offs that teams should be aware of.
- Requires setup to unlock full value
- It can feel more complex compared to simpler tools like Google Docs
Once adopted, however, Confluence becomes a scalable, long-term home for organized knowledge and processes.
Why Confluence is the better choice for knowledge management
While Google Docs outperforms in quick collaboration, it falls short when teams need structured knowledge management and repeatable process execution.
Confluence gives teams a centralized space to create, maintain, and grow their knowledge base. Its structure, templates, and integrations help teams document effectively, but execution requires more.
Teams document plans and processes in Confluence, while linked Jira issues make them actionable, with clear ownership and progress tracking.
Tools like Smart Checklist and Smart Templates improve the execution side by standardizing tasks and breaking them into clear, trackable steps.
Smart Checklist is user-friendly lightweight app for Jira, that helps you organize your work with clear ToDo’s. Create checklists, save them as templates, and apply them to recurring tasks with automation. Now running on Forge.
With Smart Templates you can create Jira issue (work item) templates to document and streamline your workflows. Prefill fields, add variables to manage dynamic values. Automate work items creation with a built-in scheduler and Automation for Jira.
As an example, let’s take project managers who often handle recurring workflows like onboarding, kickoffs, and release prep. With Smart Templates, they can:
- Save workflows as templates
- Pre-fill issue fields
- Generate full task groups in one step
- Trigger templates based on project type or events
Instead of creating 8–10 onboarding tasks manually, a project manager can use a template that generates them all instantly. With clear responsibilities and a consistent process. After tasks are created, Smart Checklist helps ensure that no step is missed. With the help of this add-on, teams can:
- Break down Jira tasks into checklists
- Reuse checklist templates for repeated processes
- Automatically attach checklists based on workflow
- Track step-by-step progress in the Jira issue itself
During a release cycle, a manager adds a checklist to the release issue with items like “QA approval,” “Notify stakeholders,” and “Update release notes.” Every step is visible and trackable directly within the issue. On top of that, the checklist can include automation rules based on issue status or workflow stage.
Even with all the right tools in the world, knowledge management only works when teams follow consistent practices. Such as:
- Use clear and consistent titles
- Assign page owners
- Review content regularly
- Use templates often
Conclusion
Confluence is built for long-term documentation, structured collaboration, and integration with Jira. When paired with Smart Templates and Smart Checklist, it helps teams move from scattered docs to scalable execution.
