How do I best group epics?

[Ajda Gruden]

Hello!

When I first started structuring Jira, I was using a user story map with initiatives, epics, stories etc outside of Jira, and wanted to mirror the structure in Jira; but without initiatives, only with epics. As the project grew, I was adding new epics and new stories to the new and existing epics. Then we started using epics in relation with releases, but the problem now is, that we don't know how to group those epics together.

I recently learned that you can also have initiatives in Jira, and I created the issue type, but if I saw correctly, I can only apply it to the roadmap in the Premium plan?

We're currently using the Standard plan.

Does anybody else encounter similar issues and how do you go about them?

Thank you in advance!
Ajda

[Kathryn Vargas _Tempo_]

Hi @Ajda Gruden

The ideal grouping of issues will differ depending on the use case or the team, but following up on what @Elvir mentioned, there are apps in the Atlassian Marketplace that can help you visualize your work the way you need.

One of these options is Structure, which lets you visualize default parent-child relationships in Jira (like epic > story as you mentioned), but also any other issue links between other issue types (like initiatives above epics). We've written an article on how to create a hierarchy above epics using the app.

Structure then lets you add any Jira field as a column, so that pull all the information together in one spreadsheet-like view. From here, you can group and filter issues the way you need, and also sum up values in any column that contains numeric values (like Story Points and Estimates) which is useful for reporting, planning, etc. 




You and your team(s) can build as many "structures", and group the issues as needed for your use cases. 

I'm part of the Structure team and wanted to expand on what was mentioned – I hope this helps! 

Best, 
Kathryn

[Elvir]

Hello Ajda,

Indeed the premium plan includes Advanced Roadmaps with the possibility to add multiple levels above Epic.

Alternatively, you could use an add-ons Like Structure and Big picture in order to get similar features.

Hope this helps,

Best regards.

[Stefan Ernst [Realigned.io]]

Hey Ajda,

If you would like to continue using a story map with Initiatives & Epics, take a look at Advanced Story Maps for Jira

The app can group your epics with an issue type above them (you can use any issue type but let's say you use the Initiative issue type in your project) using a custom link in the Standard plan - or if you have Jira Premium, you can use the built-in parent link type.

Hope this helps

Stefan

PM of Advanced Story Maps for Jira