How do I show sub-tasks on Kanban?

[Emily Thraen]

I realize that this question has been asked before, but the answers on those posts did not solve this blocker for me. 

BACKGROUND: Our Content team makes use of a private Kanban board to see what everyone is working on amoung our products. The products use Next-Gen. The Content team utilizes sub-tasks to illustrate their workflow: IA, write, edit, medically review, etc. Kanban filter is assignee in (list of content members)

I have tried the below combinations to make it to where sub-tasks show on the swimlanes:

1. Adding AND issuetype in (Task, Sub-Task) to the end of the board's filter
2. Switching what the swimlanes are based on between "Assignees" and "Story"
3. Creating quick filters: issuetype in (Sub-Task) as well as trying issuetype in (Task, Sub-Task) so as not to exclude the parent task

[Emily Thraen · Accepted solution]

Was just using the wrong query: "Subtask" should be used as opposed to "Sub-Task". OR...be like me and use all of them: assignee in (-people-) AND issuetype in (Task, Sub-Task, Subtask).

Cheers

[Chris Buzon]

Two parts:

1) the JQL query that drives the board must return the results you're expecting, or it's not the right query (meaning you should see the expected subtasks when you just search for issues using the same query that the board uses).

2)  Swimlanes area.  You'll get different results depending on which setting you use here.  Try changing this to Queries and see if that fixes it for you.

[Chris Buzon]

In case point 1 is confusing - your JQL query must return the results you're expecting (all of them, including subtasks) when you plug the board query into an advanced search like this:

[Emily Thraen]

1. Should, yes. But I'm not... The query seems fine when I use it outside of the board though. If you read my query in the description I include tasks and sub-tasks

2. Switching the swimlane to queries did not work either. I used issuetype in (Subtask, Sub-Task) 

[Chris Buzon]

Can you paste the whole query here? I don't need the names or real project keys, but I do want to see how your query is structured as a whole. In theory, you don't need to specify issuetype in the main query at all - you could use the subfilter to remove the ones you don't want to see.

It's also possible that the sub-filter has this (default) which may be further messing with your board.

[Emily Thraen]

I've never heard of a "sub-filter" before, so I'm interested in exploring that possibility more. 

Regarding the full query, it's what is in the description: assignee in (list of content members). The reason for this is our writers/ editors who in all of the other products. The content manager only wants to see what her team is doing. 

[Chris Buzon]

OK, if that is the full query - then my hunch is it is the sub-filter causing the problem. It's found in the General settings tab of the board settings, at the bottom.

Since you're looking for results specifically based on assignee, also try selecting "Assignees" instead of query (or others) for the swimlanes settings. 

[Emily Thraen]

Removing the sub-filter did not work. I tried it with query, assignee, and story swimlanes. 

[Chris Buzon]

I'm not sure how to help further, but I'll think about it more and get back to you if something comes to mind. Sorry, Emily. 

[Emily Thraen]

It's okay! You provided another avenue for me to evaluate (the sub-filter) which I have no doubt has gotten me closer to figuring out how to show sub-tasks!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Emily Thraen 

If your content team's work spans/overlaps the work with lots of other teams' projects in JIRA, the visibility of issues could be a permissions issue. Please confirm if the members of the content team have access to all of the projects where the team does work.

Best regards,

Bill

[Emily Thraen]

Hello, Bill!

Yes. Since our content team members work on products across the board, they all have the same, open visibility to said products. It may also be worth noting that sub-tasks are enabled on all products too. 

ET

[Bill Sheboy]

Thanks for checking that.  The next thing to check is workflow status values...

Each of the NextGen projects/boards use different status values (even if the names appear the same).  Please try this:

• Create a classic project and kanban board with your filter which includes all the assignees: assignee in (list of content members)
• Map all the status values, as needed, to the columns on your board
• Try this board as read-only (for visibility) and do not move items on the board

If it still is not working, please consider posting an image of the board and of the board's General settings so the community can ponder this further.  Thanks!

__Bill

[Emily Thraen]

Apologies for the delay, Bill. It was a "Monday" and then it was "Monday 2.0" haha. In regards to your suggestion, I'd rather not create a whole new board. That said, I took into account that all the other product boards use different status values by mapping all of them into the columns. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Thanks, @Emily Thraen 

Would you please also post an image of the columns layout?  I am interested if there are any status values which have issues, and which are not mapped.

And, are the product teams only using Task and Sub-Task, or perhaps also Story with Sub-Task too?

[Emily Thraen]

The column view is attached below. Unmapped status are from retired boards/ only used by DEV. No product utilizes stories currently. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Well, that is how I expected the mapping to look for lots of NextGen projects shown on one board.

Let's try to build up from one team:

• Create a new filter for just one of the NextGen projects, ignoring the assignees and issue types for a moment: project = myNextGen_1
• Set the sharing of the filter as you expect for your Content Team/members.
• Now create a new classic Kanban board in your Content project from that filter
• Map the status values to columns as before
• Check what happened...if that works, add the assignees to the filter

And so forth, adding the pieces to see when it breaks.