The problem with Jira (and other tools) is it inevitably gets too many customizations: extra fields, plugins, mandatory workflows, etc. Instead of becoming a tool to manage work, it starts getting in the way of real work and becomes work itself.

I've seen on perm Jira at large companies get that slow. I'm not sure if it's the plugins or just the company being stingy on hardware.

Yeah it’s probably both. Underfunded IT department, probably one or two people who aren’t allowed to say no.

I can easily believe either, but I am still curious what the failure mode(s) is (/are).

Underconfigured hardware and old installations neglected are the ones I've encountered.

Large numbers of custom workflows and rules can do it, too, but most have been the first.

> I've never noticed it being that bad. Annoying? Absolutely! But not that painfully slow.

I have only seen a few self hosted jira, but all of those were mind numbingly slow.

Jira cloud, on the other hand, now compared to 2018 is faster from what I remember, I still call it painful any time I am trying to be quick about something, most of the time though it is only annoying.

It is faster than it was back then - I've been using it for 10+ years. Hating every moment of it. But it is definitely better than it was.