Stacking columns on a Kanban Board?

Question

Hi all - I'm not super-familiar with all that Jira has to offer, I typically use Kanban Boards to give me an easy, visual overview of where we're at with each project/issue, as well as automatically assigning the issue to the relevant person as it progresses.

The problem is, at certain points, simultaneous actions need to be taken by different people. For example, when an issue moves out of the 'Production' column, it then needs to be moved into a 'Distribute Marketing Materials' and 'External QA' column (each managed by a different person) as both tasks will be happening at the same time - workflow isn't totally linear.

I'm sure there's a way to handle this in Jira, but I can't figure it out. The main thing is, I'd like to keep the project as visually simple as possible so that less tech-savvy members of the team aren't overwhelmed (e.g. dragging from 1 column to another is perfect).

Thanks!

Grant Wilde · Answer

That's helpful, thank you! How are those sub-tasks then tracked? Is it possible to view the status of them from the Board-view? Can those sub-tasks move over to a different column when completed? Thanks again.

Shivraj Marathe · Answer

Hi @Grant Wilde, please check if this solves your query

Using Sub-Tasks

* Create sub-tasks via automation when leaving Production state:

* Set up an automation rule that triggers when an issue moves from Production to whatever your next main column is

* The rule would create two sub-tasks:

* "Distribute Marketing Materials" (assign to Person A)

* "External QA" (assign to Person B)

* Benefits:

* Main board stays clean with just the parent issue

* Sub-tasks appear in the "Sub-tasks" panel of the main issue

* Each assignee can track their own work

* Still allows dragging the main issue through columns