Visually mark issues with subtasks on kanban board?

Question

We are using a kanban board grouped by Epic. Some issues have sub-tasks, but we chose not to show sub-tasks on the board since it gets too messy.
Is there a way to highlight issues that have sub-tasks so we can more easily see which ones require a deeper look?

I thought of using colors to do it, but I need a JQL query to identify issues that are "parents", and apparently there's no easy way to do that.

I'm won't be able to use any add-ons or external apps to do this.

tokcum · Answer

Dear Sabina,

I'm afraid there is no simple solution to your request. I would like to point you to this feature request.

JQL to filter issues with/without subtasks

There you find a bunch of workarounds, some of them pointing to a similar direction as Jack.

Please vote for this suggestion. So it gets more traction at Atlassian.

Thanks and kind regards,

Tobias

Jack Brickey · Answer

one idea (not really pretty but should)...

* Create a custom field called say "Parent-Issue" that is either none (default) or "Yes"
* Create an automation rule: trigger on issue created, condition of JQL issuetype=sub-task, action - set the Parent-Issue" to Yes for the parent of the current issue
* use JQL to color the card based upon Parent-Issue = Yes or simply add the field to the card.

holes in this: if you delete all sub-tasks then you would still show the original parent has having sub-tasks. if you move an issue from a task to a sub-task the automation would not pick it up.