How do I display tasks in a single column in Agile Boards rather than spanning all columns?

[John Tolle]

We have an Active Sprint (Agile) Board with many columns (like To Do, In Progress, Done, etc.) that currently display subtasks in the appropriate column based on status, but the main tasks span across all rows with a little label that displays their status.

I understand that the purpose is to make it obvious that, regardless of status, all the subtasks belong to that task.  That being said, it would be easier to visually determine the status of the tasks themselves if they were jammed into a column (just like subtasks), even if tasks-in-columns might need to be formatted differently to somehow differentiate them from subtasks and/or make it obvious that all subsequent subtasks were part of that task.

[Kelly Albrecht _Western Massachusetts_ · Accepted solution]

Have you tried turning off Swimlanes by Stories in the Board’s Settings?

[John Tolle]

Thanks, Kelly!  That works pretty well, putting all tasks and subtasks into the appropriate column and then putting little group boxes around subtasks so you know what tasks to which they belong.  Although not exactly what I was looking for, it's a step in the right direction.

The best for us would be a merge between the swimlane and swimlaneless views, where subtasks are still grouped under a task like in the swimlane view, but the tasks themselves are squeezed into the correct column, with the other columns grayed out to either side of the task, so it's still obvious that the task is a task with subtasks under it (and you could still collapse it to hide the subtasks under that task).

[Kelly Albrecht _Western Massachusetts_]

Yeah, I hear ya. 

They kinda act like that when they are in the backlog.

I think the way they work across the columns is consistent with a bigger picture view of what in mean to subtask a story such that the story issue becomes just a container. This can lead to a lot of swimlanes...

Further, once all Subtasks are moved to done, Jira will ask if you'd like the story marked done automatically.

With the Story swimlane turned off, the subtasks do indicate the Story they are a part of as they independently flow across the columns. I might not be able to accurately visualize your idea, tho!

[John Tolle]

Here's a mockup of kind of what I have in mind.  I don't care how the row is identified (blacked out entirely, just white entirely, a gray outline like I used, etc.) as long as the main task is in an actual column yet it's still clear that it has subtasks, which are, as they are already, in the appropriate column themselves.

[Darshan Phy]

Turning off Swimlanes fixed it, thank you