How to show Sub-tasks of a Story on the Kanban Board?

Marc Porto (US - ADVS) January 24, 2020

Hello,

I have read through a lot of the questions posed on here regarding sub-tasks and kanban boards. However, none of them have helped me determine whether it is possible or not and if it is possible, HOW.

We have a number of stories belonging to epics. These stories then get sub-tasks created and assigned. However, the Kanban board shows the stories within each column, but does not display any of the sub-tasks. We do have sub-tasks on the filter but still do not show them.

We have tried linking the sub-task to the epic and story eventhough it is created as part of a story and does not work. 

If anyone has encountered this issue and found a solution or anyone know a way to get them to show, some guidance would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you!

7 answers

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Answer accepted
Stephen Wright _Elabor8_
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January 24, 2020

Hi @Marc Porto (US - ADVS)

Can you show us your filter? And how the sub-tasks are linked to a story. A screenshot of both would be great!

Ste

Marc Porto (US - ADVS) January 24, 2020

Ste,

 

Here are screenshots:

Capture.PNGCapture 2.PNGCapture 3.PNGCapture 4.PNGCapture 5.PNG

Stephen Wright _Elabor8_
Community Leader
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Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
January 24, 2020

Hi @Marc Porto (US - ADVS)

I recreated your setup in a test instance - I didn't find anything wrong with your setup.

This is what I did find:

  1. If you're using the Kanban backlog, sub-tasks will remain in the backlog if they're in the mapped backlog status, even if the main story is moving across the active board (and vice-versa).
  2. All statuses must be mapped to the columns, even if they're sub-tasks. Sub-tasks will still move through their own statuses.
  3. If your quick filters are based on assignee, the user would need to be assigned to both the story and the sub-task to show up.

It doesn't look like you're using the Kanban Backlog so we'll skip that. To check statuses mapped to columns in (2):

  1. Go to 3-dots icon in upper right > Board Settings > Columns
  2. Ensure the Not Started, In Progress, Completed, On Hold statuses are mapped to columns and not in the far-right "Unmapped" column

For (3), you can check sub-tasks below a story to see if they're assigned or not.

--------------

Just some extra information on column mapping; sub-tasks will show in a different column to the story if:

  1. They are in a different status column than the story
  2. Their status differs to the story even in the same column - for example, if your last column has "Done" for stories and "Completed" for sub-tasks, they would show separately.

See here:

Sub-Tasks on Board 1.png     Sub-Tasks on Board 2.png

--------------

The other alternative as mentioned by others is to group by story in swimlanes. It does mean the stories won't move across the columns but is cleaner if sub-tasks are the main issue type you use to track progress. To activate this:

  1. Go to Board Settings > Swimlanes
  2. Change Base Swimlanes on to "Stories"

Ste

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Answer accepted
Alexander Ling
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January 24, 2020

Hello @Marc Porto (US - ADVS) 

Have you tried changing the board configuration to display swimlanes by Stories? In this way the sub tasks will be displayed under each story. Try it out and see if thats something that you are looking for. You can check out this link if you are uncertain how to edit the swimlanes.

I hope that this answer solves your issue! :-)

Best regards,

Alexander

dave October 15, 2020

Not true. The query for the board is only for a dev team. For us, ie DevTeam = XXX

 

Switching the swimlanes does nothing.

Naveen Narula October 11, 2021

Hi @dave ,

Did you find any solution to this (Sub-tasks not appearing on Kanban Board)? 

Sub-Task are appearing in the Kanban board if I don't use any filter query but when I use any filter query like "Epic Link" or others then it does not show sub tasks.

Like # people like this
Benjamin Oßmann October 28, 2021

Hi Naveen,

totally agree, I have the same problem. My filter query includes "Epic Link" and the board does not show sub tasks.

atijero November 3, 2021

Same Issue Here, subtask doesnt show up on the board

Naveen Narula November 3, 2021

HI All,

 

I tried "issue in childIssuesOf(Epic Name)", this worked for me.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks

Naveen

Like # people like this
Ritambhara Mishra December 28, 2021

This worked for me too, thanks for the help!

Andrei Banu March 11, 2022

Usually, when you create a subtask, it doesn't add a component to it. Try adding that Component (board you want to display it on) and it should work easily. 

1 vote
Brent Lambert December 28, 2021

Check the General configuration of your Kanban board to see if you have a Kanban board sub-filter set.  In our shop, that filter apparently defaults to "fixVersion in unreleasedVersions() OR fixVersion is EMPTY", which is great except that it excludes subtasks.  As soon as I got rid of that, subtasks showed up in my Kanban board.

Rickard Agerhäll September 15, 2023

Finally!! That was the solution for me too! Thanks!

Francesco Fabbio
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December 18, 2023

This worked for me too thanks a lot!

0 votes
Andrei Banu March 11, 2022

Try adding the Component you want the Subtask to be displayed on. It works for me 

0 votes
Samambaia August 17, 2021

Have you tried this issuetype in (subTaskIssueTypes())?

0 votes
david_cartagena March 18, 2020

I'm also having this same issue for some reason I can not get sub-tasks to appear on Kanban board that was created. the Kanban board is set up already to display swimlanes by stories. 

As well sub-tasks follow their own workflow so do not fall into the backlog status when created they go straight to an Open status which is tied to the to do column on the Kanban board. 

I'm stumped as to why the sub-tasks will not display on the Kanban board.

I've also adjusted my board filter to ensure it calls all issue types and limited to only those that are still with no resolution or have been resolved within the last 30 days. 

Board Query: project = INF and department = SRE and issuetype in (Story, Incident, Bug, "Service Request", Sub-task, "Fury Release INF") and (resolution = EMPTY OR resolved > -30d) ORDER BY Rank ASC

there are no additional quick filters attached to this board. 

Any thoughts as to why sub-tasks will not display?

david_cartagena March 18, 2020

also forgot to mention that sub-tasks have been assigned the department listed in the board query. 

0 votes
Hovhannes Gyanjyan January 24, 2020

Hi @Marc Porto (US - ADVS) 

The best way to configure your board and show the Stories as swimlanes. Then you will see the sub-tickets in your board under the Story. But there is two points you should take in consider.
If you have backlog excluded from the board and your Story in the backlog, on the board you will see only the sub-tickets under columns.
If any sub-ticket in the backlog, you wouldn't find them in the board as well. So to see them, you must see the backlog page.

Check out this LINK, share by @Alexander Ling .
Best regards,

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