Issue Lifecycle in Jira: Understand, Manage, Track

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Each issue in Jira has its own life. You have the power to bring it to life, give it a name, describe its purpose, and pass it to the right person who will take care of it. This small piece of work is essential to complete larger items like projects. Imagine some of the issues were lost in backlog, and no one has started working on it. It might cause an interruption in the whole process. That is why it’s so important to understand, manage, and track an issue's lifecycle in Jira. 

Did you know that teams using project and issue-tracking tools like Jira can improve their productivity by up to 25% and reduce project completion times by 30%? A survey conducted by Atlassian found that effective issue tracking can significantly enhance team efficiency and project outcomes​.

Whether you're new to Jira or looking to optimize your workflow, understanding the issue lifecycle is key to leveraging this powerful tool for better project management.

Before the Journey Starts

Here, we’ll tell a story about one issue, but let’s define an issue first. In general, it’s a container of work. To make this work a little clearer, there are different types of issues that help to understand its purpose.

• Epic: A large body of work that can be broken down into smaller tasks or stories.

• Sub-task: A smaller, detailed piece of work that is part of a larger task or story.

• Task: An assignment that has to be completed.

• Bug: A problem that needs to be fixed.

• Story: A needed feature or capability that is oriented toward the user.

There might be different issue types depending on the project you work on (Jira Software, Jira Service Management).

Essential Attributes (Issue Fields)

Summary: Give your issue a short name to summarize the job to be done.

Description: Explain the task in as much detail as necessary

Priority: Can it wait or must be solved as soon as possible?

Reporter: Who created the issue?

Assignee: Who should work on the issue?

Due Date: What is the deadline?

Basic Steps to Create an Issue:

• Choose a project.

• Navigate to the issue creation screen.

• Fill in the necessary fields: summary, description, issue type, priority, etc.

• Assigning the issue to a required person.

• Adding attachments, labels, etc.

Jira Issue On Its Journey

To better illustrate this story, let’s look at the example. 

Example of an Issue Lifecycle

Issue Creation. Team Member Ostin noticed a bug on the website: the "Contact Support" form was not submitting properly. He created a new issue in Jira titled "Problem with Contact Support Form" and assigned it to the developer. The issue type is set as Bug with the "Open" status and medium priority.

Workflow. Alis, assigned as the developer, reviews the issue and changes its status to “In Progress”. After discussing the impact of the bug with the team, the project manager decided that fixing the Contact Support form is critical and they increased the priority of the issue to "High." They also set a due date. 

Alis completes the development work and submits the fix for testing. Issue status changes to "Testing". The QA team tests the fix and confirms that the Contact Support form is now functioning correctly. Issue status changes to "Done."

That was the story of one issue. Throughout this example, team members collaborate within Jira, updating the issue's status, priority, and assignment as needed to ensure the efficient resolution of the bug. This streamlined workflow helps maintain transparency and accountability within the team, ultimately leading to the successful resolution of the issue.

What Happens After or Tracking Issue History

• Jira records past activities for each issue, making it easy to check all updates. You can find History under the Activity section when opening each issue.  

Example:

• Jira Query Language (JQL) allows you to create complex queries to find issues based on various criteria. Here are a few examples of JQL queries to search issue history:

Find all issues that were assigned to a specific user in the past:

assignee was "username"

Find issues that changed status from "In Progress" to "Done":

status changed FROM "In Progress" TO "Done"

Find issues that were in a specific status on a particular date:

status was "In Progress" ON "2023-06-01"

Find issues that were assigned to a specific user and are now closed:

assignee was "username" AND status = "Closed"

Find issues created by a specific user and updated in the last week:

reporter = "username" AND updated >= -7d

Find issues that were in a specific status for more than a certain period:

status was "In Progress" DURING ("2023-01-01", "2023-01-31")

Find issues that transitioned from one status to another within a specific timeframe:

status changed FROM "Open" TO "In Progress" AFTER "2023-05-01" BEFORE "2023-06-01"

Find issues that have a particular label and were updated recently:

labels = "your_label" AND updated >= -7d

These JQL queries will help you filter and manage issues effectively based on various criteria and historical changes in Jira. Adjust the queries according to your specific needs and project configurations.

• The third option that might be helpful for tracking history is the Issue History for Jira app. It records changes for multiple issues in one place, so you can get the story of all issues and their lifecycle.

You can filter, structure it the way you need, and create custom reports. 

Try to create your report (30 days free)

Takeaway

Teams enhance collaboration, streamline workflows, and ensure timely resolution of tasks. by comprehending, managing, and tracking issue lifecycle. Leveraging Jira's native history, JQL, and apps like Issue History for Jira can provide valuable insights and improve transparency, accountability which is essential for project success, making it an indispensable tool for modern project management.