Is it good practice to link tasks and bugs as children to stories?

[Clifford Perea]

I have inherited some Jira projects where the teams have task issues and bug issues linked to story issues and I have never done this before in my past and I am not sure, if this makes sense, because for one tasks and stories are at the same level in Jira and bugs to me would also be at the same level, but want to get other opinions. 

[Sam Nadarajan · Accepted solution]

Hello @Clifford Perea 

Tasks, Stories, and Bugs in Jira (at least the default configuration) live at the same level and are classified in Jira as "standard" issue types. Jira also has another issue type classification, called "sub-task" issue types, which allow you to create and maintain different issue types that live at the "sub-task" level (i.e. they are children of standard issue types).

As far as whether it makes sense or not, that will partly depend on your business process(es). Linking Issues in Jira does not follow a strict parent/child relationship. you can specify links between multiple issues, and specify the link type between them as well. For example, you may choose to link a story to several tasks using a "relates to" link to indicate that the work across these different issue types is related. You could also link bugs to a story with a link type of "blocks" to indicate that the presence of the bugs is preventing/blocking the story from being worked on. These are just a few examples. More information about linking issues is available here.

It sounds like when you say "tasks", your team is using them as "sub-tasks" - children of standard issue types. I'd suggest getting some clarification on what tasks, stories, and bugs mean in your organization, then use the appropriate configurations (e.g. standard v. sub-task issue types) to be in alignment with your organization.

Hope this helps

[Clifford Perea]

Hello @Sam Nadarajan yes my organization are using tasks as sub-tasks and it is causing other issues, but I wasn't sure, if anyone else is doing this, because this is the first time I have seen this. This information definitely helps! Thanks

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

This depends entirely on how the team thinks of sub-tasks.  It's a very simple question though.

A sub-task is part of its container story, not an independent item.  Are your tasks and bugs genuinely a fragment of their containing issue?  In your process, do they need to be completed as part of getting their issue done?  If they are, it's good practice to represent them as sub-tasks.  If they are not part of an issue, then raise them as separate issues.

[Clifford Perea]

Hi @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- yes the tasks and bugs are a fragment of their containing issue and they need to be completed as part of getting the overall issue done. I agree that it's good practice to represent them as sub-tasks I just need to get folks in my organization to see this. Thanks