How do we link a task to a story

[John Houser]

Newbie here. 

I piloting Jira before adopting for a wider team, and have most of Jira figured out.

I have searched, and I have been unsuccessful finding out exactly what setting I need to change in order to link a TASK to a STORY.

I am looking to do this type of hierarchy:

And when I click on the three dots on the TASK and select Add Parent

I only get the option to add an Epic parent, not a Story parent.

Any help would be appreciated!  Thanks!

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen · Accepted solution]

Hi @John Houser  and welcome to the Community!

On the Story, you click on Link Issue and enter the issue key of the Task and choose the type of linkage you want it to be (Blocks, Relates to, ...). Or you can do the same on the Task but enter the Story key there.

HTH,
KGM

[John Houser]

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen  - Thank you!

Yes, this is what we were looking for!

Thank you again!

[Michael Figueras]

Thank you for this. I have been on different JIRA courses and this was not mentioned. Appreciate the help. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @John Houser -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Based upon your hierarchy example image, you may instead want to use the Jira issue types:

• Epic
  • Story
    • Sub-task

Tasks in Jira are at the same level as Story and Bug (defect), and so can only be connected with links, as @Kristján Geir Mathiesen describes.  Sub-tasks are child items of a Story, Task, or Bug.

Kind regards,
Bill

[John Houser]

Thank you @Bill Sheboy  I was using that.  We were hoping to have the tasks visible on the board and move across the board during the sprint.

[Rose Alcolea]

Hi John, 

You can do that by configuring your board so it shows sub-tasks. In your Board Configuration, go to Card Layout and under Backlog choose "Sub-Tasks" and add it.

Hope this helps!