The Atlassian Marketplace is evolving rapidly, with vendors continuously innovating to meet the ever-growing needs of Jira administrators. One such disruptive force is Doctor for Jira, an app that simplifies data governance and instance clean-up—areas that have long been pain points for large organizations. In our latest BYOD (Bring Your Own Directions) Podcast, we sat down with Hubert Kut, founder and CEO of AppForge, to discuss his journey from Jira administrator at major enterprises like eBay to a startup founder tackling one of Jira’s most persistent problems.
From Enterprise Consultant to Atlassian Marketplace Innovator
Hubert’s story is one of necessity meeting opportunity. Having worked for years managing large-scale Jira instances at companies like eBay and Adevinta, he faced the same challenge over and over: keeping instances clean and efficient.
“Every Jira admin knows the struggle of managing bloated configurations, unused custom fields, and duplicated filters. I was solving these issues manually with scripts and SQL queries. It was painful, repetitive, and inefficient,” says Hubert.
This frustration led him to build Doctor for Jira, an app designed to automate Jira instance health checks, clean-ups, and optimizations. What started as an internal tool soon became a commercial product when AppForge won Atlassian’s Codegeist competition, securing funding and recognition from Atlassian itself.
The Core Problem: Jira Instances Become Unmanageable
Jira is a powerful tool, but its flexibility often leads to clutter. Over time, organizations accumulate thousands of custom fields, unused filters, orphaned projects, and outdated workflows, making the system slow and inefficient.
Hubert highlights one of the biggest issues: “People create filters, dashboards, and custom fields without a governance strategy. Soon, you have redundant configurations, performance issues, and an instance that nobody can navigate efficiently.”
Doctor for Jira addresses these challenges with one-click diagnosis and automated clean-up suggestions. Key features include:
Instance Health Score – A comprehensive diagnostic tool that scans and rates your Jira’s overall health.
Custom Field Merging – Identify and consolidate duplicate fields to reduce clutter.
Filter Management – Clean up and reassign unused or duplicated filters.
Bulk Project Archiving – Easily identify and archive inactive projects.
Balancing Cloud, Data Center, and Pricing Challenges
As Atlassian continues its push towards Cloud, organizations are facing increasing pricing pressures on Data Center licenses.
Hubert, having worked in enterprise environments, understands the hesitation to move everything to the cloud. “Six years ago, I would have said, ‘I’ll never move to cloud.’ But today, the conversation is different. Companies are starting to embrace hybrid models, but they still need proper governance—whether in cloud or Data Center.”
Additionally, Atlassian’s new pricing models are forcing vendors to rethink their strategies. “The challenge isn’t just cost—it’s the uncertainty. Businesses struggle with predictability, especially with Atlassian’s frequent pricing changes and user-based licensing shifts.”
This is where Doctor for Jira provides value—it works seamlessly across both Cloud and Data Center, ensuring organizations can maintain efficiency and optimize costs, regardless of their hosting model.
How Doctor for Jira is Transforming Agile Administration
At its core, Doctor for Jira is about giving time back to administrators. Instead of spending hours hunting down inefficiencies manually, admins can now:
Run a full diagnosis in minutes
Get automated recommendations to optimize their Jira setup
Execute bulk clean-ups safely
Ensure long-term instance health
“Every admin wants a cleaner, faster, and more efficient Jira—but nobody has the time to do it manually,” Hubert explains. “That’s why we built Doctor for Jira—to automate the boring, repetitive clean-up tasks and let admins focus on real innovation.”
Key Takeaways from Our Conversation with Hubert Kut
Jira clutter is a real problem – Large organizations struggle with redundant fields, filters, and projects, impacting performance and usability.
Data governance is critical – Regular instance clean-ups lead to better efficiency, faster load times, and a more streamlined user experience.
Cloud vs. Data Center is a complex debate – While cloud adoption is growing, many enterprises still require on-premise solutions for compliance and control.
Doctor for Jira simplifies administration – With one-click diagnosis, actionable recommendations, and bulk cleanup, the app saves admins hours of manual work.
Hybrid models may be the future – Companies need flexible solutions that allow them to leverage the best of both cloud and on-premise Jira setups.
Final Thoughts
As companies continue scaling their Atlassian environments, the need for proper instance management is more pressing than ever. Doctor for Jira is changing the game by bringing automation, efficiency, and clarity to administrators worldwide.
Listen to the full episode here: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Youtube
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