Can I create a epic and subtask in a team-managed project using KANBAN Simplified Workflow?

[Alain Vandermeersch]

I just started with JIRA for a small team and created my project using the KANBAN template( free plan I have less than 10 users in my team - 2 developers and 4 reviewers providing business requirements) - I just need to document work items( requirements actually) to follow up. I want to keep it as simple as possible the simplified workflow is good enough( todo, in progress done) - no scrum board just document issues. The project content is described in Confluence and linked to JIRA.

I want to structure the project in functional domains(Epics) and subdomains(Stories) . and for each subdomain create tasks( and subtasks eventually) and bugs.

But looking at the Issue types Epic is not there. Subtask is present. But when I Click on the Create Button to create a new issue, the dropdown menu lets me only choose between Story, Task and Bug.

Am I limited in subdividing my project in Stories only, and within each Story only use Tasks without subtasks?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Alain Vandermeersch 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Can you go to the Projects menu, select View all projects , then find your project in the list and tell us what it says in the Type column?

Can you provide screen images of what you are seeing when you click on Issue Types, and when you click on the Create button

In a Team Managed project it should be possible to create new issue types by clicking the Add issue type button.

After clicking that you get a list of the types of issues you can create.

Select the type you want to create from the Suggestions and then click Add, or click the Create issue type button at the bottom.

That should enable you to add Epic to your project.

Epic would then be available in the drop down when you click the Create button to create a new issue in the project.

The hierarchy for Jira is limited to three levels:

Epic > standard level issues > subtasks

"standard level issues" include Task, Story, Bug, etc.

So you cannot create a parent/child hierarchy of 

Epic > Story > Task > subtask

Story and Task are siblings and can't have a parent/child relationship in the way Jira understands parent/child relationships.

You could use generic issue linking to connect the Story and Task issues, but Jira would not see that as a parent/child relationship.

As for creating subtasks, you will not see that option when you click the Create button to create a new issue. Subtasks cannot exist without a parent issue. So the only way to create them is from the parent issue itself.

Go to your Story or Task and click the "Add a child issue" button to add a subtask to it.

Once you have added the Epic issue type to your project you will see the same button when viewing Epic issues. In that case you will be adding a Story or Task or Bug as the child of the Epic, not a Subtask.

[Alain Vandermeersch]

Hello Trudy,

Many thanks for you very thorough reply!

Here are the screenshots you asked for.

Project list

As you can see the type of my "New Stock" project is Team managed software.

In my Project settings, these are the issue types

Cfr your instructions I added a new issue type Epic, but I could not add the Jira built in Issue Type because I did not get the Suggested Epic option cfr screen below

After that Epic( my type, not the Jira Built-In type) was added to the Issues list, and I could create a few Epics.

But then when I want to create a Story under one of those Epics, I can not assign an Epic as parent of my new Story, It says as you can see the selected issue type(i.e. Story) is at the top of the hierarchy and can't have a parent.

Fyi, ChatGPT thinks Epics are not supported for Team-Managed Software

But you say tasks and storys are siblings... How can I structure tasks and subtasks by domain? Domain( Epic) - SubDomain(Story or Task) - Task or Subtask/Bug

Many thanks for your help!

[Alain Vandermeersch]

Update: I do not know what happened in my first JIRA Software Project, but I created a new KANBAN team-managed project and I could add all Jira Supplied Issue Types. 

And I can build a Board with the hierarchy Epic -> Story -> Subtask.

The comment that you can only  have 3 levels and that lvl 2 items Story/Task/Bugs are twins was very helpful for me to understand the simplified flow. 

Many thanks for that.

You can close the question as successfully answered

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Alain Vandermeersch 

Looking at the image of issue types in your first project, it appears that you renamed the Epic issue type to "Story". In that image the different hierarchy levels are separated by horizontal lines.

The project already had an Epic type of issue (named Story), so the system would not allow you to create another Epic type of issue.

Also, I would be very wary of trusting answers from AI. Always verify the answers independently with documentation or knowledgeable people.