How to show subtasks on Backlog and Kanban Board?

[Dmitry Linov]

I know this question has been asked many times before, but none of the solutions I could find work for me. So here's my setup:
- Jira Cloud
- a team-based project
- Kanban board.
Also, I have all Admin permissions.

The suggestions that I found on the Internet (not working for me):
1) Adjust Swimlanes configuration - There are no swimlanes in the Board setup
2) Change the default query/filter for the Board - There is no way to do it, no setting like that

So something must be eventually wrong there. Could you help me out?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Dmitry Linov 

Welcome to the community. 

With a Team Managed Kanban board you will not be able to view the Subtasks in the Backlog screen. This symbol will show on a card to indicate it has subtasks.

You'll have to view that specific issue to see the subtasks associated with it. They will not be displayed as independent cards in the Backlog.

In the Board view you can view them only when you set the Group By option to Subtasks (in the upper right corner).

[Dmitry Linov]

Hi @Trudy Claspill , Thank you for the explanation!

The "Group by" is really a workaround. However, if I still want to see subtasks as regular tasks on the board, what do I have to change - the board type or the project type?

Is the Kanban board some default characteristic of a board, or does it just mean that the sprints are turned off?

[Trudy Claspill]

There are some default characteristics of a Kanban board vs. a Scrum board. The most obvious one is that Sprints are not part of a Kanban board and they are part of a Scrum board.

Additionally
- the Backlog screen is optional for a Kanban board

- "Done" issues are automatically hidden on a Kanban board when they have been done for 2 weeks or longer.

With a Team Managed project it is not possible to show both Subtasks and their parent issues as cards on the board at the same time, regardless of whether the board is Kanban or Scrum.

With a Company Managed project it is possible to see both on the Board view.

For both types of projects, the boards will not show subtasks in the Backlog view because it doesn't make sense to do so. Subtasks are a piece of the parent issue. They can't be prioritized independently from the parent issue, or added to a sprint independently of the parent issue. Therefore, there is no reason to show the subtasks separately in the Backlog view.

[Dmitry Linov]

Thank you, it makes sense. However, a subtask can be assigned to a different person than the main task and has to appear on this person's board. If it was not so, there should not have been an Assignee field in the Subtask.

[Trudy Claspill]

When you say "on this person's board", do you mean that separate boards are being created that filter issues based on the Assignee?

If people set up their own boards to view only the issues assigned to them they need to configure the board in such a way that it includes the parent issue of their subtask, if they are not also the assignee on the parent issue.

For showing the Subtasks in the Backlog screen, though, there is not solution.

[Dmitry Linov]

No, it's not a personal board, it's a common board. Sometimes we need to filter the board to see only the tasks assigned to one person - e.g. at a daily call. Or a person in the team may do the same to see what tasks they have. In both cases, we don't see the Subtasks, and it doesn't make sense :-(

[nick.verze]

I'm having the same issue as Dmitry, using the cloud version of Jira.

In an active sprint, I'd like to organise my board via Epics, tasks and then subtask.

Subtasks will "not" show unless the board is grouped by subtask.

I'd prefer the sprint grouped by epic and to be able to see the tasks and sub-tasks within each epic. Why are sub-tasks hidden within the parent?

[Osborne_ Beth]

We have stopped creating sub-tasks because we can't see them on our Kanban board.  Instead, we create tasks and link them to the stories or other tasks.  Although we're not thrilled with this process change, it's the only way we've been able to work effectively and collaboratively to maintain organization and easier visibility.