Parent story to bugs - what is the industry standard?

[Virgo Admin]

Hey everyone :)
I started using jira and I have a question about something im kinda stuck with:
When we have a sprint, as part of the QA some stories that are statused as "developed" are failing the tests because of a bug. So i'm adding the bug to the sprint backlog because i want it to be fixed as fast as possible, but what do i do with the parent story? do i flag it? if the story has 3 different bugs? how do i make sure the 3 child bugs are documented under the parent story? how do i change the status of the parent story to "done" after the 3 child bugs are changed to "done"? What is the industry standard for this situation?(I'm sure many scrum masters are facing it)

[Ste Wright · Accepted solution]

Hi @Virgo Admin 

I'd suggest there are recommendations, rather than best practices. I've seen it done multiple different ways - but this what I would recommend:

• Link the Bugs to Stories using linked issues. You should use a linked issue type most relevant to how you work as a team - for example, do the Bugs block the Story? Are they caused by the Story? Etc.
• If the Bug blocks a Story from being delivered, I like to "flag" the Story. You can do this by right-clicking on an Issue on the Board and selecting Add flag, turning it yellow, so it's clear it has an impediment during stand-ups, etc.
• When a Story can be moved to "Done" depends on your Definition of Done, and the priority/urgency of the Bug. Not every Bug will need to be fixed prior to completing the Story - perhaps it's a low priority? Perhaps the Story is only "Sprint Done" and not released? Etc
• If the Bug is blocking the delivery of a Sprint, I would decide if it needs to be included as additional scope. Sprints/Teams should not be overloaded to a point where any issue or blocker could stop completion, so there should be some buffer to take into account these unexpected situations.

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As a side-note, I also like to encourage the use of Automation in these scenarios - to help expedite the retesting or unblocking of Stories. For example, Automation rules could...

• Flag/Unflag blocked Stories automatically
• Notify a user when a Bug is ready for retesting
• Notify a user when a Story can continue - i.e all Bugs are fixed
• ...etc

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Let us know what you think :)

Ste

[Virgo Admin]

Thank you so much for the informative answer. Thats more or less what i thought i should do but i wanted to get the affirmation :)
I will try to automate the process of moving stories that have linked bugs to "Done" automatically after the linked bugs are "Done".

Thank you!
Roi

[Ste Wright]

Awesome!

If you do need any assistance with creating the Automation Rules, please feel free to reach out on the Community - we'd be happy to help!

Ste

[Nicolas Gondard]

As another side note, provided you have ScriptRunner extension but not Automation, you may filter the stories according to the status of their child tests, e.g. :

issueFunction in linkedIssuesOf("type = <your test type> and project = <your project> and status = 'Closed'") and type = "Story" and status != 'Closed'

HTH

[Virgo Admin]

I'll try that too
Thanks!

[Virgo Admin]

Hey Stephen,
So as you recommended i was trying to implement an automation for my process.
I'll briefly explain what i was trying to - 
So now, after i linked 3 bugs to an issue (1 parent issue and 3 child bugs)
i want that when the 3 child bugs are fixed and changed to "In QA"(which is a status i added), the parent issue will also move to "in QA" so the QA team will know that they need to retest the parent story and the 3 bugs.
i tried to make the automation but i couldnt condition it to when only after the 3 bugs are moved to status "in QA" move the parent to status "in QA"

any ideas how do i solve it?
Thank you,
Roi

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Virgo Admin 

Can I just confirm - are the Bugs linked to an Issue via...

• Epic/Parent Link (i.e a true parent/child relationship)? Or...
• Linked Issues - eg. relates to, etc - even if these are named "is parent of / is child of"

If you go to the main Issue - it should tell you below the text fields which it is - the Bugs will either be under the heading...

• Child Issues (for Epic Link)
• Linked Issues (for normal links)

Ste

[Virgo Admin]

Hey Stephen
The parent issue is a story, to which i linked the bugs (its not an epic) so the child issues are under "Linked issues". I never saw "is parent of" or "is child of".

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Virgo Admin 

This rule should work. I've used "Blocks" as the link type:

• Trigger: Issue Transitioned
  • To Status = In QA
• Condition: Issue Fields Condition
  • Field = Issue Type
  • Condition = equals
  • Value = Bug
• Branch: Related Issues
  • Type = Linked Issues
  • Link Type = blocks
    • Branch-Condition 1: Issue Fields Condition
      • Field = Issue Type
      • Condition = equals
      • Value = Story
    • Branch-Condition 2: Related Issues Condition
      • Related Issues = Linked Issues
      • Link Types = is blocked by
      • Condition = All match specified JQL
        • JQL = Status = "In QA"
    • Branch-Action: Transition Issue
      • Destination Status = In QA

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A few notes on this rule...

• Both linked issues directions are used here:
  • The Branch looks for related Stories of the Bugs (i.e Bugs block Stories) to action on
  • Branch-Condition 2 then looks for related Bugs for those Stories (i.e Stories are blocked by Bugs)
• You might need to add additional Statuses to the JQL in the Branch-Condition 2, if it is all Bugs are in "In QA" or a later Status
• You should also consider if adding new Bugs should reverse this move, or change the Story's Status again. This could be an additional rule!

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Let us know if this works :)

Ste