Jira Image of the Day: Leveraging Work Type Hierarchy Levels

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Concept Relates To

Application Type	Jira (Jira Work Management and Jira Software), Jira Service Management
Deployment Type	Jira Cloud

What is shown?

Work type heirchy levels in Jira Cloud.

Visit:

• Admin > Work items > Work types

• Admin > Work items > Work type hierarchy

What can we learn?

Creating a new work type

When creating a new work type, Jira asks you to choose between for a Standard Issue Type which is labeled “Level 0” or a Sub-task Issue Type, which is labeled “Level negative 1.” The standard level is generally used for types like Tasks, Stories, Bugs, Incidents, Service Requests, and more. Not surprisingly, Sub-tasks types generally live at the Sub-task level.

I find the naming a little confusing, so here’s an explanation.

I like to think of standard issue types as “parents” and sub-task issue types as “children”.

For example, if the parent type is “Task” the child type is “Sub-task”. But sub-tasks, aren’t limited to only being children of “Tasks”.

A sub-task can be a child of any parent work type. For example, it’s common for development teams to break up the work required to complete a Story into multiple Sub-tasks.

In Jira Cloud, the parent level is called “Level 0” and the Sub-task level is called “Level -1”.

There’s one more level to know about in Jira Cloud. That’s “Level” 1 for Epics. I think of Epics as grandparents.

Work Type Hierarchy Admin Page

Work type hierarchy admin page

In Cloud, there’s an additional hierarchy feature in the admin area. Jira admins can change the level names and the work type used at the highest level. But please note: any changes made in this area apply to all company-managed projects. This is the type of change you’d definitely want to make in a test environment first to thoroughly understand the implications.

Additional hierarchy levels in Cloud Premium and Enterprise

In Jira Cloud Premium and Enterprise, there’s an additional “Create Level” function used to create additional levels above Epic. In other Cloud plans or in Server and Data Center, the only way to add levels above Epic is using a third-party app from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Hierarchy Benefits

Here are some of the benefits of Jira’s work item structure.

• There is no limit to how many issues are created at each level.

• Breaking issues into smaller pieces makes them accomplishable. This allows work to be assigned to different users, so you know exactly who’s responsible for what effort.

• Estimates and work logged in Sub-tasks can be summed in parent issues automatically or with automation rules.

• Sub-tasks are automatically linked to parent tasks which makes them easy to find and report on.

• Additional levels above the Epic are possible with Jira Cloud Premium, Enterprise, or apps from the Atlassian Marketplace. Levels above Epic are often named: "Initiative", "Theme", "Goal", or whatever makes sense to track strategic priorities in your organization.

• Levels can be queried. Add a clause like hierarchyLevel = 1 to your JQL statement.

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