At the moment, when users of build variables have to change them or insert them into Bamboo Tasks, they have to have a thorough knowledge of all these variables because we're not displaying any information about these variables at the point of entry. If users want to understand what a particular variable stands for, they have to navigate to the Admin area (for global variables) or into the Plan configuration area (for plan variables) to find out more about them. This rips users out of their current navigation context, and they have to navigate back to the context once they've found it.

It would be MUCH better if we had a type-ahead feature for when users enter the variable names, much like Facebook when you reference another person. It could simply detect that users are typing "bamboo." and then it would show a dropdown with all the available variables which gets narrowed down as they type it. At the same time, once users have selected one of those variables (or even more awesome, when they hover over it), an area close by should show the contents of this variable, and a description of this variable (the addition of which is another JIRA issue somewhere). Users would then be much less error prone, and could also simply click on the variable to understand what it means, and whether that's the right or wrong one.

We know this is a very annoying issue for our own guys (reported by Martin Henderson).

If the type-ahead was too hard, a second-best solution would be a simple link close to a variable entry field that brings up a small popup window with all the available variables and their values and descriptions for an easy, conclusive reference.