why does publishing a Jira Plan change the default assignee in jira?

[Steven Codd]

In Plan our Epics and Story/Tasks have no assignee. Our Project default assignee is "Unassigned", yet when we publish a plan the Epic and Tasks are given an assignee,  we cant figure out where that value is coming from.

[Tuncay Senturk]

Hi @Steven Codd 

Welcome to the Community!

This might have several reasons, these are what I'd have a look.

• Check for Automation Rules. There may be an automation rule in place that assigns issues automatically when they are created or something like that.
• Check the Workflow. It’s possible that the workflow associated with the Epics and Tasks has a post function that assigns the issues upon certain transitions
• Check default assignees of components. If the issues are being assigned based on components, check if any of the components in your project have a default assignee. 

I hope this helps