Jira Automation rule timing out on large board

[John Ackerman]

Hi everyone,

We’re having an issue with a Jira Automation rule that transitions issues when a label is added. It works fine on smaller boards, but on our largest board it often times out or doesn’t run at all.

We’ve already simplified the rule and tested it elsewhere with no luck. Has anyone experienced this, or are there best practices for automations on large boards?

Thanks!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @John Ackerman -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

For a question like this, context is important for the community to help.  Please post the following:

• What problem is your rule solving?  That is, the "why".
• What version of Jira are you using: Cloud, Server, or Data Center
• For Cloud, what type of space / project is this: company-managed, team-managed, JPD, JSM, etc.
• An image of your complete automation rule in a single image for continuity
• Images of any relevant actions / conditions / branches
• An image of the audit log details showing the rule execution, both working as expected and not
• Explain what is not working as expected and why you believe that to be the case 

Kind regards,
Bill

[John Ackerman]

Hi Bill and Philipp, thanks for the responses!

Here’s a bit more context:

Goal: Automatically transition issues when a specific label is added.

Jira: Cloud, company-managed Software project.

Rule behavior: Simple trigger → conditions → transition, no external calls or complex branching.

Issue: Works fine on smaller projects, but on our largest board it often times out or doesn’t appear to run.

Audit log: When it fails, the delay seems to happen right at the start of execution rather than during the transition.

I’ll add Log actions before and after key steps as suggested to get better visibility, and I’ll share screenshots of the rule and audit logs (working vs failing) shortly.

For reference, this is similar to how we structure some of our automation setups: Smokey Cloudz - sharing just for additional context.

Thanks again, appreciate the help!

[Philipp Sendek _catworkx_]

Hi @John Ackerman ,

thank you for the additional context. As the execution seems to be delayed, my assumption is currently, that it's a problem with the performance of the board and a possible delay of the label being added to the work items.
When you add the label to a work item within this large project's board, does the label appear right away? And, when you open the work item, is the label there also visible immediately?

Thanks for sharing additional info on your setup, but I think the link isn't correct. Maybe pasted the wrong address from your clipboard?

Apart from the answers to the questions above we're looking forward to your screenshots around the logging of steps within the Automation.

Greetings
Philipp

[Philipp Sendek _catworkx_]

Hi @John Ackerman and welcome to the community,

Automation rules always should run in the background and should generally be independent of boards or other UI elements in Jira. What exactly is the automation doing? Is it just transitioning a work item or is it also doing something in addition to that?
Also, can you see from the audit log of the Automation what's taking it so long? Does it take long for it to start it or the transition its executing?

For Automations it does help when you place the "Log action" (Not log work) including some senseful text like "Starting action xyz", "Finished action abc" before and after every key action element within your Automation rule. That way, when you look at the audit log of an Automation, you see how long it took between the steps or if something was skipped (and the log action wasn't triggered).

If you provide these additional infos, we should be able to get closer to the root of this.

Greetings
Philipp