How to see sub-task collapsable in backlog?

[Eduardo Carrada]

I want to see my sub-task like bottom example, in my backlog of scrum, but a don't find the option to add this feature.

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Eduardo Carrada

welcome to the community!

Is it important for you to see your epic/sub-task structure specifically in the *backlog* view, or would you be open to other kinds of "issues lists"? Or in other words, what issue actions would you like to perform on this epic/sub-task structure?

Best,

Hannes

[Eduardo Carrada]

Because is more easy the management of the subtask inside the collapsable option than inside the story details.

On the story details list you only can add a description if you open the subtask, but in the collapsable option you can add description and more details over the details view of the subtask.

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Gotcha @Eduardo Carrada - now this may not be exactly what you're looking for, but if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, you may like JXL for Jira. It's a full-fledged table/spreadsheet view for your issues that allows viewing and inline-editing all your issue fields - plus it supports issue hierarchies.

Here's how e.g. the standard epic/story/sub-task hierarchy looks in action:

It's worth noting that there are a couple of backlog features that are yet to come in JXL, such as ranking via drag and drop. But depending on your use case, it believe it could save you quite a few clicks. More info at https://jxl.app. (Disclaimer: I work on JXL :))

Hope this helps,

Hannes

[fdav]

Hi all !

As I understand the need of Eduardo : "I want to see subtasks in the backlog view of my scrum board".

I verified this way to show subtasks on scrum backlog (to be sure) :

1. Install Jira from scratch
2. Create a new scrum project with sample data

You'll see subtasks under stories on scrum backlog.

Then I tried to find difference between this fresh new board and others on my production instance with no success.

There is surely an option elsewhere but where ? 

(Subtasks are visible on kanban backlog boards natively as Eduardo said)

Regards.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Nope, you won't.  Scrum board backlogs don't show sub-tasks.  You don't need to see them in a Scrum backlog.  I suspect you've not created a Scrum project, or at least board.

Kanban boards show sub-tasks because Kanban simply doesn't have a concept of sub-task.  Every issue is an item that needs doing.

[Finn Winchester]

"You don't need to see them in a Scrum backlog" that is a bold statement.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's an accurate one though.  You can't do anything with them in the scrum backlog, and they're not items you need to be looking at when planning.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Sub-tasks are not sprint items, they are just a fragment of their parent story.  They have no relevance in the backlog, the backlog is for managing the stories and sprints.

[Eduardo Carrada]

Thanks for your response

Maybe this is the reason because I can see this option in a kanban board but not in a scrum board, but I think this should be a nice improvement because I more easy the management of the subtask from the collapsable option than open the subtask directly in the details view.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's no value in having sub-tasks in the backlog display in Scrum, you can't actually do anything with them, and they're not something you plan for (which is what the backlog is - a planning tool).

They are useful in Kanban backlogs because every card is a Kanban item.

[Ian Heidenberger]

Even if you can't directly assign the subtasks to a sprint from the backlog, it'd still be helpful to easily see what subtasks remain to be done in a story on the backlog page. And you kind of can do things with subtasks -- currently, once their parent story is in a sprint, you can change the status/assignment of subtasks independently on the sprint board. Since our team's stories span days to ~2 weeks, we use subtasks for more granular planning and work assignment.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You can't put sub-tasks in a sprint, so that's a non-starter.

You can add the "sub task" field to the issue display in the backlog to get a display of sub-tasks within each issue in the backlog, but it's not a lot of use there.

[Marek Brzeziński]

Nic why do you assume that "There's no value in having sub-tasks in the backlog display in Scrum"? 

I see value. As Ian stated having a collapsable option to see subtasks under the stories in the backlog can help me to see quickly if everything is included and double check everything without going to each individual tasks. 

From your side it's a case of "user is certainly wrong"... 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's not an assumption, it's from understanding what the backlog is, and what it is for, alongside what a sub-task is and how they work.

A backlog is a list of issues (stories usually) that are items that could be drawn into a sprint.  The purpose of a backlog is to rank those items into the order that the team should be looking to deal with the items (and then draw them into sprints if the team is working in a scrum-like way)

Sub-tasks are fragments of sprint items, they can't be ranked outside their parent issues (that would be complete nonsense), and because they're part of a bigger issue, they don't need estimates that are not part of their parent's estimate.

An abstracted example I was given by an Agile expert was a simple jigsaw.  Imagine you've got 50 jigsaws to do.  Each one is a story, and "place each piece" of each one is a sub-task of the story.

When you are planning which jigsaws to do over the next couple of weeks, of what use are the estimates or ranking of each piece?