Pros and Cons of creating multiple issue hierarchy levels

[Manas Bagde]

Hello,

We are currently using Epic > Story/Task > Sub-Task issue hierarchy levels.

But we are in a need of creating 2 more levels like Initiative > Epic > Feature (Sub-Epic) > Story/Task > Sub-Task.

May i know the pros and cons of creating multiple issue hierarchy levels. Any insight in this regard will be much appreciated.

Regards,

Manas

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Generally:

• Pro: better project organisation and visibility at higher levels
• Con: Complexity for the people dealing with the stories

But for both of those, you could argue that the people affected shouldn't really need to have to worry about them - people generally don't need to look more than one step away from the level they are working with.

You can't create multiple hierarchies in Jira, so I think it would be worth us knowing what app you are using to create them.

[Manas Bagde]

Thanks for your suggestions, @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

The idea is to create multiple projects for multiple levels.

Like:

1. A project with name Portfolio will have only initiative issue types. 

2. A project with name Program Epic will have only Epics. Parent for the epics of "Program Epic" project will be Initiatives from Portfolio project

3. A project with name Program Feature will have only sub-epics. Parent for the sub-epics of "Program Feature " project will be Epics from Program Epic project

4. Teams will work on stories, bugs, tasks or sub-tasks at the team level projects. Where parent for story / task will be sub-epic from Program Feature project. Developers working at the team level projects do not need to look into Sub-Epics / Epics / Initiatives.

We are not using any Jira marketplace apps. However i have created the issue type hierarchy in Jira. 

With the requirement / detailed explanation provided above, do you see any risks?

Appreciate your inputs.

Regards,

Manas

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

That's a perfectly good hierarchy, it shouldn't cause you any problems, as long as you explain it well to your Jira users (which is, for most people, going to take you less than a minute!)

My point was more about the suggestion you made about having multiple hierarchies.  You can only define one global one in Jira's Advanced Roadmaps

[Manas Bagde]

Thanks again, @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- 

[Ashley Hudson]

Heya @Manas Bagde

Mainly the issue hierarchy is utilised in that way to plan for a greater piece of work. Generically in most projects the epic should be the biggest piece of work spanning the longest time (1-2 quarters) but within some planning tools, the Initiative is used to plan for work spanning cross multiple projects.

I would say in terms of the pros and cons, it really depends on the team and how they want to plan work. I'd suggest to use the current issue hierarchy as it mostly applies for jira projects independently but if the team needs to have a bigger "scope" then the advantages would certainly be to use initiative (but I would advise against this)! 

I hope this gives you some clear guidance on what to take moving forwards! :)

Kind Regards,

Ashley Hudson 

[Manas Bagde]

Thanks for your inputs, @Ashley Hudson .

[Ashley Hudson]

@Manas Bagde No worries at all! Hope it helps :)