Can I Automate Dependent Task Shifting in Jira Timeline Like in Gantt Charts?

Question

Hello everyone,
I’m Darshan Hiranandani, working within Jira’s Timeline view and managing several tasks under an Epic, which are in turn part of an Initiative. Occasionally, some tasks get delayed, and I would like the dependent tasks to automatically shift to the right to reflect the delay. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to set this up to happen automatically.
How can I make Jira Timeline behave more like a traditional Gantt chart where dependent tasks automatically shift based on delays in predecessors? I’d appreciate any suggestions!"

Regards

Darshan Hiranandani

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Darshan Hiranandani

Here is an article @Trudy P Claspill wrote on this scenario.  Please read the entire article and all of the comments to learn the potential risks of using this approach to update the issues.

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Updating-dependent-task-s-dates-when-predecessor-task-date/ba-p/2816977

Kind regards,
Bill

Jovin · Answer

Hey @Darshan Hiranandani

Great question - you can achieve this through automation rules! You'll use the trigger being a field value updated, then you'll find the issues that are "blocked by" this issue and adjust their start & end dates accordingly.

Note: You'll need the rule to have scope for all projects you wish this to interact with.

Note: I'll assume that the field that will drive this is the "due date", so when the due date is modified on an issue, it'll update the dependent ones.

* Trigger: Field value changed* Field: Due date
* Change type: Value added
* For: All issue operations

* Action: Create variable* Variable name: oldDueDate
* Smart value: {{#changelog.duedate}}{{fromString}}{{/}}

* Action: Create variable* Variable name: dueDateDiff
* smartValue: {{oldDueDate.toDate.diff(issue.duedate).days}}

* Condition: {{smart values}} condition* First value: dueDateDifference
* Condition: greater than
* Second value: 
* Note: This is optional, you can remove this condition if you'd also like this rule to "pull blocked issues earlier"

* Branch: Branch rule / related issues* Type of related issues: Linked issues
* Link types: blocks (you can use others)
* Action: Edit issue* Field: Start date
* Value: {{issue.Start Date.plusDays(dueDateDifference)}}
* Field: Due date
* Value: {{issue.duedate.plusDays(dueDateDifference)}}

This rule will update the start & due dates of the blocked issues (dependent issues) by the same difference of the original due date and the new due date.

E.g. if Issue 123 has it's due date extended by 5 days, the start & due date of dependent Issue 987 will be increased by 5 days.

Screenshot below: