Best Practice for Tracking Bugs in JIRA Using Advance Roadmaps with a Custom Hierarchy

[Luqman Jamil]

I have a query regarding the structuring of our company's hierarchy in JIRA. We are considering a hierarchy of Initiatives > Epics > Stories > Sub-Tasks and plan to track it using Advance Roadmaps.

To facilitate bug tracking during the testing of Stories/Sub-Tasks, I propose introducing a new issue type called "sub-bug" that can be linked to the specific Story. However, I'm uncertain about the best practice for logging bugs discovered post-launch, given that sub-tasks cannot be created directly in the backlog.

Currently, our structure is Epics > Features > Stories, with all issues documented as Stories and a custom "DevDefect" bug type at the issue level, similar to a Bug. This setup poses challenges in visualizing issues within Advance Roadmaps at the hierarchy level. What approach should we take to address this issue?

Should we use "Bug" or "Sub-Bug"? if we use the sub-bug, every time when some one wants to log the bug, they have to find the story 1st related to that topic and than they have to create a sub-bug, but if we have a standard issue "Bug" they can create it from backlog and than we can link the bug to proper Epic or story. but in this case we won't able to see which story have how much bugs. the hierarchy from the Advance roadmaps. 

Thank you in Advance

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Luqman Jamil 

It's Mary from Planyway for Jira: timeline, calendar, time tracking.

1. Flexibility vs. Structure: You need to balance the need for a structured approach to track progress and dependencies with the flexibility required for bug tracking. This often means finding a middle ground that doesn't overly complicate the process for team members.

2. Use of "Bug" vs. "Sub-Bug":

   • Bug: Creating a standard "Bug" issue type that can be linked to any part of the hierarchy (Epic, Story, etc.) offers flexibility and simplicity in logging issues. It's straightforward, encourages prompt reporting of issues, and can be associated with the relevant part of your project structure post-creation.
   • Sub-Bug: This might be useful for granular tracking within Stories but could introduce unnecessary complexity. If you adopt this, consider automation or JIRA workflows that could help in identifying and associating these sub-bugs more efficiently.

3. Enhancements for Post-Launch Bugs:

   • For bugs discovered post-launch, consider maintaining a separate project or a dedicated "Post-Launch" Epic within your project to track these. This allows for clear segregation of pre-launch development work and post-launch maintenance, improving clarity in reporting and prioritization.
   • Alternatively, use labels or components to distinguish between pre-launch and post-launch bugs within the same project structure.

4. Visualizing in Advance Roadmaps:

   • Advance Roadmaps supports different levels of hierarchy, but it's crucial to keep it manageable. Over-complicating the hierarchy can make roadmaps difficult to interpret.
   • Ensure your bug tracking method (whether using "Bug" or "Sub-Bug") integrates well with Advance Roadmaps. For instance, linking bugs to their respective Stories or Epics can help maintain visibility without altering the primary hierarchy.
   • Explore custom fields and JQL (JIRA Query Language) queries to enhance visibility of bugs within the roadmap, such as creating specific filters to show or hide bugs linked to different hierarchy levels.