How to handle jobs with different due dates in 1 workflow?

[ray]

We have a small situation in our company but we just can't figure out the right way to solve this:

When we're making up a campaign, we need to create f.e. a brochure, a flyer, beach flag, an ad, a press release and an e-mail. So in this case, we need to create 7 story tickets in jira with different due dates.

But people are asking us: why can't we have 1 story ticket because we need to create all of them at the same time and we need to send it to our clients at the same time and feedback is coming back at the same time in one bundle. Otherwise, you have to split up the feedback in 7 different story tickets. 

So their solution was to create 1 story ticket with a checklist of f.e. 

brochure - 1/6
flyer - 1/6
beach flag - 3/6
ad - 6/6
flyer - 10/6
press release - 15/6
e-mail - 16/6

And when 1 is done, they just change the due date of the story ticket and alter the checklist.

But that's not the way it should go. We normally create a story ticket when the due date is different, but I do understand our people's concern because we can't have them doing more admin than it should be.

I tried to search for a solution to automatically create subtasks when an item of the checklist has been marked as done but technically it's not possible with the smart checklist plugin. Or we could create 1 story ticket and make everything ready to release from 1/6 but people need to see the due dates to have it top of mind...

[mariya_solovey]

Hi @ray 

Mariya from the Smart Checklist team is here.

If understand correctly, you're interested in automatically creating a subtask when any checklist item is marked as done/checked/completed, right?

We have an example of this use case in our Knowledge Base, which you can find here: Create a Sub-task when a checklist item is set to done/completed 

If you're using the Smart Checklist app and still have questions about the integration of Smart Checklist with Automation for Jira, don't hesitate to reach out to our support team directly.

You can find the link here.

Kind regards,

Mariya

[ray]

Hi @mariya_solovey 

I reached out to your team several times and explained our situation but the example you gave me creates a subtask from the checklist item that has been marked as done, not from the next item in the checklist. 

Your team told my in the support mail that it's not possible at the moment :)

[Frank Leclerc _Decadis AG_]

Hello @ray ,

have you ever thought about automatically distributing the feedback to the other issues via an automation rule or a workflow app (such as our Jira Workflow Toolbox)?

You would then have a issue for each due date and the information regarding the feedback in all issues. The feedback is then only available redundantly.

Cheers
Frank

[ray]

Hello @Frank Leclerc _Decadis AG_ 

We're using automation for jira intensively. Do you mean that when you post feedback via a comment in one task, that you post it in all the other tasks automatically too?

[Frank Leclerc _Decadis AG_]

Hi @ray ,

yes, exactly.

[Pavol Gočal]

Hello @ray ,

if I understand correctly, your starting point is a "new campaign", that always contains all the tasks, that need to be done (a brochure, a beach flag, ...). You want to track the current status of the campaign -> which tasks are done, which are maybe in progress, etc. 

The important information is that you send those items to the client at the same time.  So it means, that the campaign is "done", when all the tasks are finished. 

What I do not understand is that you create 7 stories with different due dates. Why are the due dates different when you send all the items to the client at the same time?

[ray]

Hi @Pavol Gočal 

because when creating f.e. a beach flag, the due date is earlier because it needs to be printed. An e-mail's due date can be much later :) It's also possible that we send out two e-mails: one to tease the campaign, and later on to announce the campaign.

we send them to the client for review all together because they want to see the whole package in one go instead on different dates. Our people are also working on all the tasks at the same time, since we can reuse f.e. the title in the different tasks

[Pavol Gočal]

Understood.

I personally prefer to keep things simple. I would consider this approach:

1. Create 1 parent story/task/epic with due date to be the deadline of a campaign.
2. Create tasks (if parent issue is story or epic) or subtasks (if parent issue is task) for the things that should be done (create a brochure, ..).
3. Specify due date for each task/subtask separately.

This structure allows you to look at the parent issue where you'll see main deadline of the campaign and you'll see all the deadlines for individual task, that need to be implemented (and not only deadline, but also status of a task and other fields, if needed).

If this would be suitable, you can also use automation rule to automatically create task with subtasks (take a look at this page or this page) or in your workflow you can use post-functions. This would allow JIRA to create the structure for you and you just set the due date as needed.