What causes issues to be nested sub-tasks within list view on the planning and task boards, and how can I make stories be sub-tasks of epics?

[Edward Kaminski]

I've been tasked with figuring out how to get the planning and task boards to take on a certain look. When I look at issues that are displayed in list view, some of them have a "subs" arrow that expands the issue to display sub-issues related to the main issue. I've been trying to figure out how this occurs. I've tried comparing issues that have their sub-issues display in this manner with those that do not and I cannot figure out what is different between the two that makes this happen.

Additionally, I'm trying to figure out how to have stories be sub-tasks of epics without losing their "story" labels. It is very possible that I am confused as to how issue classification works, but here is what I (and others in my office) believe it should be:

Epic - A very large, overarching story that can be broken up.

Story - A small story that explains a user experience. An epic is made up of multiple stories.

Task - Specific work that needs to be done in order to satisfy a story. A story is made up of multiple tasks.

So, once I have my epics, stories, and tasks written in the system, I should be able to relate them to one another (somehow) so that they show up in list view as follows:

Epic 1
Story1
Task1
Task2
Story2
Task1
Task2
Task3

Epic 2
Story1
Task1
Task2
Story2
Task1
Task2
Task3

Epic 3
etc.

I've been going through the documentation and have seen how to set up links between issues, associate Epics to issues, etc. I've even made stories become sub-tasks of the epic (which causes it to lose its "story" label), but it still doesn't make the nested issues in list view occur. Nothing I try seems to get me the results I am looking for. Any help or a point in the right direction is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Renjith Pillai · Accepted solution]

Stories should not be made as sub-tasks of Epics. The relation between Epics and Story is established in the story in the card view, by editing the Theme/Epic field.

And in Planning view, I guess the heirarchy is not shown for Epic and Story. It is shown only for technical tasks which are created as sub-tasks for the Stories.

And to answer the first question, in the planning board, all sub-tasks of Stories will be shown with dotted line below the Story.