Creating subtask in different project

[Lex Dernison]

Good day all,

I'm really hoping someone could assist me with below or point me to where I can learn on how to do this. I'm really having a hard time understanding Jira.

So my scenario:

We have three projects:
Project 1: management
Project 2: member group 1
Project 3: member group 2

I'm in Project 1 and I get a task assigned, for example: "Send inventory" 
I want to create a subtask that I can assign to all members in project 2 and project 3. 

At this point when I'm creating a subtask of my task, I cannot change the project as the dropdown menu is grayed out. Secondly when I'm looking at assignee, I can see users of project 2/3 but I can only select one at the time.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Lex Dernison 

Welcome to the community!

Just to be clear, Jira does not allow a subtask and its parent issue to be in different projects. So you can't make a subtask for your issue in Project1 and have the subtask actually exist in Project2 (or any project other than Project1).

[xenangonline]

Yes. yes!

[Lex Dernison]

Good day Trudy,

Thank you also for your reply! Maybe I just need to try to achieve my goals differently.

Rather than a subtask, I should just create 16 tasks on the project2 board each to one of  the members? 

[Laura Reilly]

"Jira does not allow" is the root of the problem which attributable to design flaws most likely due to legacy inflexible architecture which we all know is very difficult to correct, a fact which  should just be acknowledged instead of  claiming 'Jira does not allow".  Jira is very inconsistent with what is allowed and while some limitations are due to poor implementation by customer, this one is apparently truly an issue to be addressed by the Jira Team. Here are some very frustrating inconsistencies related to the question:

1. It's 'allowed' for user to create an Epic in Project 1, make a bunch of sub-tasks under that Epic using More - Create sub-task which user can then bulk move all those subtasks into Project 2.  Jira should provide same for Tasks / sub-tasks though bulk move to 16 different projects would also require modifying bulk move functionality - a whole other ask
   1. Please allow user to Create Issue - Subtask where UI could enforce selection of Task (or Epic, I guess...see next point)
   2. It's never been clear to me why Sub-task can exist without Task and be associated directly with an Epic. Why is Task not a normalized part of the overall hierarchy? I really this this is the root cause of all hierarchy issues!
2. It's 'allowed' to create sub-task from within the Epic using More - Create sub-task but user is not afforded the same option of More - Create Task. And yet user can Create Issue - Task and then Edit it to associate with an Epic - how does that make sense?
   • Why is user forced to Edit to select the Epic instead of allowing selection during its creation? 
   • Again, this makes Task not part of the normalized hierarchy
3. User is allowed to create Task in Project 1 and then edit it to select Epic ofProject 2 yet user is  'not allowed' to create Task and have sub-tasks in two different projects.  
4. User is not allowed to make an Initiative parent of Task and instead user is force to associate with an Epic. This, despite 'parent' field presented in Create Issue - Task dialog box (more hierarchy problems -- Parent vs Epic link ..sigh)

Why not just allow users to create  sub-task or task, require user to select Task or Epic or Intiative (and again, have to question the whole sub-task direct to Epic, bi-passing Task entirely, I mean it is afterall labeled sub-task (meaning there should be a Task over it) and allow this no matter the projects any of them lay (lie?). 

Jira team needs to both clarify its hierarchy for the use of Task (and Story) and sub-task (maybe generalize to sub-issue) and their relationships to Epics and Initiatives.  

I'll just note herein that this feedback took a long time as does all user feedback and I'm positive internal Jira QA team members have highlighted the inconsistencies but feedback from customers tends to help strengthen their findings.  It would be helpful for Jira team to acknowledge the issue and present the roadmap for addressing specifically the role of Task within the hierarchy as right now it's treated almost as an 'aside'....

Laura

[Jack Brickey]

Hi @Lex Dernison , welcome to the community.

Do you want to do this automatically or do you want to do it manually? When you say you want to create a subtask do you want to create a subtask in the Send inventory issue in project 1 or are you creating a subtask for an issue in project 2 and project 3? Please note that you cannot assign a single issue too multiple users. They assign he is meant to be a single user. There are ways to work around this though, such as a custom field that identifies a team.

[Lex Dernison]

Good day Jack,

Thank you so much for your reply! Automatically would be amazing because it would be around 16 users each time but for now I'll even be happy to do it manual.

Scenario:
My manager is in Project1 with me, she assigns me a task to collect data. Now I have 16 users that I need to send the data to me. I used to just send an email to all 16 but now we have started using Jira.

The original task is assigned to me in Project1, now want to make subtasks for those 16 people where 10 of them are in Project2 and 6 of them are in Project3

I guess I would like the subtasks to be located in Project2/Project3 while the original task that was assigned to me stays in Project1? 

This way I can view from my task in project1 when everyone has completed their subtask? 

[Jack Brickey]

Thanks for the additional info. Here is what I suggest, example below...

[Jack Brickey]

Please note that the above needs to be a Global rule. If you were on the Standard tier then you will be limited on how many executions are allowed monthly for global rules. If that is a problem, the other option is to simply use project 1 and make it a single project rule which is unlimited.

[Jack Brickey]

Oh and one other note. You could also make this a manual rule that you execute on a specific task. The advantage of this is that you don't have to worry about the conditions as you will simply execute as desired. In this scenario you would simply create the single task in project 2 or project 3 and then manually run the rule to create the subtasks under that newly created task.

[Lex Dernison]

Thank you Jack for your time and effort in assisting me. I will try to understand the automation part of Jira more and see if I can complete what I need.

[Jack Brickey]

Glad to assist. Please feel free to reach out with questions.