Plans auto scheduling in parallel instead of sequential

[Rudi Mosca Klumpp]

Hi,

We are trying to use the auto scheduler in plans to plan out our asset creation for our kanban teams in a sequential manner to create a production plan and therefore a high-level roadmap.

All tasks are in Epics, and we can have two Epics running parallel, but not more.

But instead of scheduling sequential, it plans too many tasks in parallel. See picture below.

Here is what we tried:

• Assigned each task to individual persons
• Adjusted team capacities
• Entered target start dates based on start and end dates set in the plan settings
• Linked dependencies, but not overarching Epics (this would be too much work and defy the purpose to using auto scheduler in the first place)

Does anyone know if we are missing anything to make this work?

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Rudi Mosca Klumpp 

It's Maru from Planyway timeline for Jira

Here are my suggestions for improvement:

1. Review Dependency Settings: Ensure that dependencies between tasks are correctly set up. Sometimes, tasks within an Epic might not be strictly dependent on each other, leading the scheduler to plan them in parallel. It's crucial to link tasks with "blocker" or "is blocked by" dependencies to enforce sequential scheduling.

2. Epic Level Constraints: Since you've mentioned that linking overarching Epics would be too much work, consider using other Jira features that could indirectly enforce the constraint of running no more than two Epics in parallel. For instance, you might use versions or components as a way to group tasks within Epics and apply some level of manual scheduling oversight.

3. Adjust Capacity and Workload: Continue to refine the team capacities and individual workloads. If the auto-scheduler sees too much available capacity, it may attempt to fill it by scheduling tasks in parallel. Adjusting capacities downwards might force a more sequential scheduling but do so cautiously to avoid unrealistic planning.

4. Custom Fields and Automation: Explore using custom fields to indicate priority or sequencing within Epics and leverage Jira's automation features to create rules that could influence scheduling. For example, you could automate the setting of "scheduled start dates" based on the completion of previous tasks within the Epic.