Why do Epics story points count in the Burndown Chart but not Backlog story point count?

Question

The Epic estimate shows in the Burndown Chart but not in the in the Backlog total for Story points, see image 1 and 2.

This also means that story points on Epics and Tasks are counted, meaning that Tasks are counted twice. Once on their own, and once again as part of the Epic. The logic is inconsistent as Sub-tasks are not counted on the burn down chart nor the backlog count of story points.

Is this a bug or is there another explanation?

Adam Bang_vmjd4j · Answer

Thanks @Trudy P Claspill

I reached the same solutions, so good to hear I'm not missing something. Unfortunately both solutions require changing user behavior.

I'm going with solution 1 by removing the Sprint field from Epic Work types, but it would simpler if Epics simply didn't show in the Burndown chart, the same Subtasks are not shown in the Burndown chart.

Ideally, adding an epic to a sprint, would add all tasks to the sprint, and only task story points would count, but even with an automation that's not possible as Epic story points show up on the Burndown chart.

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Adam Bang

How is the Story Points field in your Epics getting filled? Jira does not inherently sum up child issue Story Points and update the field in the Epic. That could be getting done by an Automation rule or other automated process put in place by Jira Admins for your instance.

The Epic Story points would not be shown in the lozenges in the sprint header in the backlog because the Epics themselves are not shown in the backlog list.

The Epic Story Points will be included in the burndown chart when the Epic is assigned to the sprint. Typically Epics are not assigned to sprints as they often span multiple sprints' worth of work. Only the items that the team expects can be completed within the sprint should be getting assigned to the sprint.

So, the two solutions are
1. Don't assign Epics to sprints or
2. Don't sum up the child issue Story points and insert that into the Story points field in the parent Epic.