Parent-Child Linkages between Stories

[Pradyumna_Vasudevan]

Is there a rulebook on what's acceptable and what's not in terms of linkages?

Our team has been requested by the scrum master to not use Parent-Child Linkages between Stories as it is against the AGILE practices.

I am confused as I perceived that linkages in JIRA are just a more meaningful way to convey the workflow.

Are there a set of guidelines to be followed in JIRA as per AGILE practices for a Scrum Board?

[Brant Schroeder · Accepted solution]

Your scrum mater is correct about not having a story within a story.  Links within Jira can be helpful to show dependencies, relations, etc.  So even though you would not have a parent child relationship you could link the issue (stories, tasks, etc.) to show how they are interconnected on the project.  Atlassian's Agile Coach is a great tool to learn more about Agile and Jira.

[Pradyumna_Vasudevan]

Thank you, Brant.
Can you provide a link to the Agile Coach?
Is this the link you're referring to?  
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/scrum/sprints

I'm new to this and wanted to go over training materials to understand more about Agile and JIRA.

[Brant Schroeder]

Sorry thought I included that.  https://www.atlassian.com/agile

[Rodney Pearson]

A clarification for those who are new to Agile, or less experienced with Agile concept vs implementation (in any of its many flavors).

TL>DR version:

• Parent-Child links between stories violates the Agile definition and concept of a story, and should be avoided in practice when possible
• Parent-Child links between STORIES are OK and legal in JIRA.  There are no rules violations, and no negative impacts
• It is better to utilize the EPIC -> FEATURE -> STORY -> TASK structure, when at all possible

LONG version:

(1) In Agile the concept of a STORY is that the 'story' is the smallest unit of work.  As stated in the Agile Coach [LINK]:

A user story is the smallest unit of work in an agile framework. It’s an end goal, not a feature, expressed from the software user’s perspective.

A user story is an informal, general explanation of a software feature written from the perspective of the end user or customer.

Under the concept, a Parent-Child link between STORIES should be avoided as it (strongly) implies that the Parent story is NOT the smallest unit of work.  If there are child stories, then Parent is being decomposed and hence not (yet) the smallest unit.

(2) In JIRA the implementation of STORY is simply as a type of issue. Other issue types include Features, Defects, and so on.

In JIRA, all issues (types) are basically the same thing: work items with various properties.  There are no actual limitations to their usage (based on type).  Parent-Child links between stories are permitted for practical implementation purposes.  As stated by Brant Schroeder in the accepted answer [emphasis mine]:

Links within Jira can be helpful to show dependencies, relations, etc. So even though you would not have a [true Agile] parent child relationship you could link the issue (stories, tasks, etc.) to show how they are interconnected on the project.

Remember the Agile Manifesto and the Principles behind it.  Execution and Delivery overrides Process and Tools (and Semantics).  Be bold to adapt even the Agile practices when the situation warrants it.