[latj]

"As far as Jira -- the tool itself isn't bad per se, but the way PMs turn it into their own little power-trip kingdom irritates me."

Yeah, this is a pretty common sentiment. Jira is not a great tool, but the things devs really resent is being micromanaged and tracked in such a way that they are turned into a commodity. At the end of the day, if that really bothers you, there are plenty of ways to work free of this feeling- find a company that fits you better or a better manager within your company or strike out on your own. A better ticketing system wont make you happy.

[jschwartzi]

Furthermore, if the PM didn't have JIRA they would find some other way to micromanage your hours. The team I'm on uses a spreadsheet with a hokey gantt chart to pretend like we're meeting our deadlines rather than filling in timesheets in our JIRA system. Micromanagers are going to micromanage no matter what tool they do it in.