Roadmap Auto Schedule - Stories don't start right away after dependency

[Nesli Kalender]

Hello, 

I'm creating a plan in Roadmap and want to use auto schedule to plan IT activities. 
There is dependency connection for all the stories. 

I know my team has enough capacity in the plan but somehow it doesn't start from the Monday. It pushes start date to Thursday. 
I couldn't find why it's behaving like that. 
any help would be appreciated. 

[Mary from Planyway · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nesli Kalender 

It's Mary from Planyway for Jira: roadmapping, workload, time tracking

When you're using the auto-schedule feature in Jira's Roadmap and encountering unexpected start dates for your IT activities, it could be due to several factors. Here's a checklist of potential reasons why it's pushing the start date to Thursday instead of starting on Monday, despite having enough capacity and all dependencies connected:

1. Non-working Days Configuration: Ensure that your team's working days are correctly configured in Jira. If weekends are extended or if Monday to Wednesday are marked as non-working days (intentionally or by mistake), it would push the start to Thursday.

2. Holiday or Custom Non-working Days: Check if there are any holidays or custom non-working days set for your team within that period. Sometimes global or local holidays are added to the plan without realizing it affects the scheduling.

3. Dependency Start Dates: Even though dependencies are connected, if a preceding task is scheduled to finish by Wednesday (due to its own constraints or dependencies), the next task would naturally start on Thursday.

4. Velocity or Capacity Settings: Review your team's velocity or capacity settings. You mentioned that your team has enough capacity, but ensure that the allocation is correctly set for the entire week and is not just calculated from Thursday onwards.

5. Issue Prioritization or Ranking: In some configurations, the auto-schedule might prioritize or rank issues in a way that delays the start. This could be due to how issues are ordered in the backlog or specific settings within your roadmap planning tool.

6. Sprint Configuration: If you're planning within the context of sprints, check the sprint start dates. Sometimes, the auto-schedule aligns tasks with the next sprint's start date, which could be set to Thursday.

7. Version Release Dates: If your tasks are tied to version releases, check the configured start dates of those versions. The auto-scheduler might align tasks to match version planning constraints.

8. User-defined Constraints: Look for any user-defined constraints on issues that might force the scheduler to delay tasks. These can include specific start/end dates set on tasks that affect the overall scheduling.

[Nesli Kalender]

hi Maria,  
Thanks for the answer. 
Teams are working based on sprints and sprints also starts on Monday. Previous dependent story finishes on Friday. So I couldn't find any other reason why it skips Mon-Wen and start from Friday. 
could you please tell me where can I find working day settings? When I check teams section in roadmap there is no setting like that, I can only see weekly hours and selection of scrum or kanban. 
Thanks 

[Mary from Planyway]

Please check it out https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/configure-working-days/

[Summer Hogan · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nesli Kalender - in Jira, it could be pushing out due to the start date and due date for epics. The only issue is, if it is a team-managed project those fields are custom and specific to each team-managed project you will have to manage those fields appropriately. If it is a company-managed project the fields are the same, but may not be visible on your screens by default and may need to be added. Also, here are some articles that may help: 
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/set-up-the-roadmap/ 

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/configure-field-layout-in-the-issue-view/ 

[Nesli Kalender]

hi Summer, 
Thanks for the answer. We have teams based projects but all the projects use same settings. I also checked epics and stories but there is no dates in either of them. 
Thanks 

[Summer Hogan]

Hi @Nesli Kalender - Ahh, ok well then it might be working days that is causing your issue. To configure working days, please view this Atlassian Support article: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/configure-working-days/ . It has explicit instructions and I really hope this solves your issue. If it does don't forget to accept my answer using the button above. Thanks! 

[Summer Hogan]

Hi again @Nesli Kalender - If Maria and I answered your question, can you please accept our answers by clicking the Accept Answer buttons? That really helps us. Thanks! 

[Nesli Kalender]

hi all, 

unfortunately changing working time didn't impact the start date. 

we have teams working with scrum and kanban, so when I select scrum in the plan settings it gives me dates a couple of months later even though there is availability and doesn't align the teams that are working with kanban. 
and when I don't select scrum then it starts a sprint by iteself directly from the day I run autoschedule and arrange timeline accordingly. this option seems better however it also not a realistic schedule. 
I couldn't find any other way since roadmap doesn't respect to some of the dates I selected for epics or stories. 
unfortunately, auto schedule doesn't work for hybrid projects that has also tasks outside of jira. 
if you figured out a way please let me know.