Adding Epic Link to Tasks

[Jesper]

Quick setup:

So we are using "Jira Software" for all our development teams. Meaning we all have a "Jira Software" license.

 
But for smaller internal projects, we have used the "Project Management" template that is part of "Jira Work Management". I can't see "Jira Work Management" anywhere on our billing, so I'm presuming that it's included in our "Jira Software" license. 

Issue

I have added "Epics" to our "Project Management" project, to better segment our "Tasks". But for some reason, I'm not allowed to add an "Epic Link" or any other "Epic" related fields to the "Tasks", they are marked as locked.
Meaning I can assign them to an "Epic" or see which "Epic" they belong to.
Also, I can't see any of the "Project Management" in the "Screens" or "Workflows".

Is this a limitation when using templates from "Jira Work Management" or what am I overlooking?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Jesper 

Is your Work Management project a Team Managed project or a Company Managed project? That information will show at the bottom of the panel on the left when you are viewing the project.

Team Managed projects don't show up int he Screens and Workflows screens that can be access by a Jira Admin, because the screens and workflows are managed directly within the project.

[Jesper]

Ahh, okay.. Thanks.

But do you know why I can't add any of the Epic fields to tasks? 
If I search for Epic, I just get an empty list

[Trudy Claspill]

None of the "Epic" named fields are fields that would be used in a Task issue in a Team Managed project.

If you want to add an existing Task to an existing Epic you would do that using the "Add Epic" option at the top of the Task issue display, where it is shown to the left of the Task issue key.

If that doesn't address your dilemma, please tell us what problem you are trying to solve by adding Epic fields to the Task.

[Jesper]

Do you mean the "Add Parent" under the 3 dots? I don't see any "Add Epic" anywhere.

Not the most user-friendly experience :) and I think the epic fields help to understand better what epic it belongs to. 

I guess I'm using the system in a way that it's not intended. 

[Trudy Claspill]

The "Add Epic" option should show at the top of the issue view, next to the issue key, above the summary field.

I have just discovered that with the recent changes to replace Epic Link with Parent link in Company Managed project, it looks like we can also now add the Parent global field to the issue screen in Team Managed JWM projects, and use that field like you used Epic Link to add a parent Epic to an issue.

[Jesper]

That is amazing - thank you so much, that made my day.

Exactly what I was missing.

[Jesper]

First of all, this has nothing to do with you Trudy - you are amazing.

And sorry for the rant, but the more I use Atlassian products the more dumbfounded I am by their choices. It sometimes feels like one hand doesn't know what the other is doing or they simply don't use the product. 

So for some reason when viewing the "Timeline" in "Jira Work Management" children under an "Epic" aren't nested, but "Sub-Tasks" are nested under their "Tasks". 
This makes the "Timeline" a huge mess if you are using "Epics" because all the "Tasks" are listed and you can't hide them. 

Adding to this, if you go to the "List" view, everything is nested as expected Epic -> Tasks -> Sub-Tasks.
So why not include this in the Timeline is beyond me. It's two vastly different approaches within the same template.

One might ask, then why not just use "Tasks" and "Sub-Tasks" instead of "Epic" and "Tasks" - because when most people create a new item, they create a "Task" as default. That is what the big blue "Create" button does or if you use the "Create" shortcut. This is what Atlassian has taught us to do.
So people don't remember to find the "Task" the "Sub-Task" should be part of and then we are back to a messy view in "Timeline".

You might think this is a design choice, but if you make a project in "Jira Software" the Timeline nests children under the "Epics" - as I would assume most expect.
But in typical Atlassian fashion, they removed two other things 

• "Sub-Tasks" are not shown under their "Task", they are simply not part of the "Timeline" view at all.
• You have to add a "Due Date" in the "Epic" or "Task" before you can edit it on the Timeline.
  You can't simply click on the "Timeline" and add the "Due Date" and a "Start Date".

But this isn't a new issue, it was reported by people more than 2,5 years ago. 2,5 years ago - that is insane. Especially, when you have the feature working in other places.
I think Micheal put it quite well, in the issue [JWMCLOUD-111] Nest related Tickets in Board/Timeline (Epics > Stories > Tasks) - Create and track feature requests for Atlassian products. 

Again, sorry for the rant and wall of text. But I just want to do my job and do it efficiently.