What Resurface does
Action items created in retros and meetings tend to die — no owner, no due date, no follow-up. Resurface fixes that, without replacing your retro tool.
It turns any Jira issue into a tracked action item with an enforced owner and deadline, then keeps it visible until it's done: overdue items resurface with a nudge, a carry-over count tracks how often a task slips, and accountability dashboards show closure rate and follow-through. Resurface is tool-agnostic — it rides alongside any retrospective app rather than competing with it.
Getting started
After a site admin installs Resurface from the Atlassian Marketplace, you'll find it in four places:
Issue panel
On any Jira issue (right-hand context panel) — capture and manage the action item.
Project page
Apps → Action Items — the dashboard for a single project.
Global page
Action Items (All Projects) — a cross-project view for team leads.
Project settings
Project settings → Action Items Settings — nudge cadence and definition of done.
Capturing an action item
Open the issue you want to track and use the Action Item panel:
- Owner (required) — who is accountable. Pre-filled from the issue's current assignee.
- Due date (required) — the deadline. Pre-filled from the issue's due date if set.
- Source — retro, sprint, or manual, so items stay queryable.
- Source reference (optional) — e.g. "Sprint 42 retro".
action-item label so it's easy to find in Jira.
Status & two-way Jira sync
Once captured, the panel shows the item's status, owner, due date, source, age, and carry-over count. From there:
- Mark as Done / Reopen updates the action item and best-effort transitions the linked Jira issue.
- When you transition the issue in Jira to a Done-category status, the action item follows automatically — and back to open if you reopen it.
Nudges & carryover
A daily job checks for open, overdue items. For each one — respecting the project's nudge cadence — Resurface posts a comment on the issue, which Jira delivers to the owner through its native notifications. No external messaging, no data leaves Atlassian.
- Each nudge bumps the item's carry-over count — a visible measure of how often a task has slipped.
- Cadence is daily, weekly, or off per project (see Settings).
- A "Carried over only" filter on the dashboard lists everything still open before your next retro.
Dashboards
The project and global pages list every action item by issue, owner, due date, age, status, and source. Overdue rows are highlighted and the list is sorted oldest-first, so the most-slipped items rise to the top.
Filters
Narrow the view by status, source, owner, overdue-only, or carried-over-only.
Accountability metrics
Each dashboard shows the metrics a team lead actually cares about:
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Closure rate | Share of action items marked done. |
| Average age | Mean days items have been open (or open-to-close for done items). |
| Overdue count | Open items past their due date. |
| % carried over | Share of items that have slipped at least once. |
| Repeat slippage by owner | Who keeps carrying items over — for coaching, not blame. |
Project metrics are recomputed and cached by the daily job; a fresh project shows live-computed numbers until the first run.
Settings
From Project settings → Action Items Settings a project admin can configure:
- Nudge cadence — daily, weekly, or off. Changes take effect on the next daily run.
- Definition of done — included in each nudge so owners know what "done" means (up to 500 characters).
Privacy & permissions
Resurface is built on Atlassian Forge and runs entirely inside Atlassian Cloud. It makes no requests to any external server and stores only a small accountability layer (owner account ID, due date, status, source, timestamps, carry-over count, and per-project settings). It does not store issue summaries, comment text, names, or emails.
| Scope | Why |
|---|---|
| read:jira-work | Read issues/projects to display and index action items. |
| write:jira-work | Add the label/property, post nudge comments, transition issues. |
| read:jira-user | Resolve the owner/assignee so the app can display and notify them. |
| storage:app | Persist the accountability layer in Forge storage. |
See the full Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
FAQ
Does Resurface replace my retro tool?
No. It's tool-agnostic and works alongside any retrospective app. Resurface is the follow-through layer — it makes the action items from your retro persistent and accountable, wherever they came from.
What does "age" mean?
Age is measured from when the item was captured in Resurface (not the Jira issue's creation date) to now, or to when it was closed.
I marked an item done but the Jira issue didn't move — why?
Resurface transitions the issue to a Done-category status when one is available in the project's workflow. If the current status has no such transition, the action item is still marked done and the panel notes that the Jira status couldn't be changed automatically.
How often are owners nudged, and can I turn it off?
Overdue items are nudged on the daily job at the project's cadence — daily or weekly — and never more than once per cycle. Set the cadence to off in project settings to stop nudges entirely.
Who can see the global "All Projects" page?
Anyone can open it, but it only shows action items from issues that user is permitted to view in Jira. It never exposes items from projects they can't access.
Where is my data stored, and does anything leave Atlassian?
Everything runs on Atlassian Forge and is stored in Forge storage within Atlassian Cloud. Resurface makes no external network calls — your data never leaves Atlassian.
What does it cost?
Free for sites of up to 10 users, with paid tiers above that. Billing is handled entirely by the Atlassian Marketplace.
Support
Questions, bugs, or feedback? Email support@outpostlabs.dev. We provide best-effort, asynchronous support. You can also ask and browse questions on the Atlassian Community.