Usage of Start date and Due date in Timeline view

Question

Hi,

I'm testing out Jira Software for our engineering Scrum and Kanban process. I have used YouTrack previously.

I'm having some issues figuring out the Timeline view and how it relates to "Start date" and "Due date" fields. I want to be able to set schedule for individual issues for both Scrum and Kanban projects.

To begin with, I enabled these settings for test Scrum and Kanban projects:

Scrum: Under "Configure Timeline" I selected "Schedule child issues by dates"

This allows me to visually change the timeline for each task that shows under each epic in an active sprint.

The Epic by default has "Start date" and "Due date" fields, and when I change the length of the timeline visually, those two fields are updated automatically.

For Stories, Tasks and Bugs (as well as Subtasks), when I created a new Scrum project, these types did not get "Start date" and "Due date" fields, so I added them manually.

When I visually change the start and due dates in the Timeline view, it updates and the view remembers it, but the values DO NOT get written into the "Start date" and "Due date" fields I created. I there something I can do to show the Timeline start and due dates inside the details of each task?

Kanban: Under "Configure Timeline" I selected "Child-level issue scheduling"

I then get the same behavior as for Scrum: I can visually change the dates in the Timeline view, but the changes do not show in task details under the "Start date" and "Due date" fields I added.

Bruno Francisco Silva · Answer

As fas as I understood the timeline setup, you can either use kanban or scrum.

For timeline purposes, what is relevant are dates inside the issues, and your planning. Epics are key to the timeline also.

I found for instance that my company don't allow me to add Start Date and Due date to the Issue Forms, but I can edit via bulk insert feature.

Hope that I helped you a bit.

Michel Aguilar · Answer

for kanban project which is the right setting?

Ludovic Boudinet · Answer

I had same issue and my jira admin helped switch the "start date" field visible in my story/bug jiras (because there are 2 start dates field for some reason... which make jira automation not work btw on that field).

I found below explaination in another post:

In a team-managed project, it is start date and due date which are marking the beginning and end of the marker for epics. But these custom fields are specific to each team-managed project, so you'll have to manage them in each project separately.

In a company-managed project it is those same 2 fields. That means the system start and due date fields in Jira. They will indeed not be visible on your issue screens by default. Find more information on how to configure them properly in these support articles: