Automation for sending emails to multiple subtask assignees?

[Emma Hecht]

I have subtasks automated to create when a task is created. I would like to send an email to the assignees of a few following subtasks when one is marked done.

For example: I have the following subtasks linked (blocked by/blocks) to each other:

draft copy > strategy copy review > copy lead review

When the task "draft copy" is transitioned from "Upcoming" status to "Done" status, I want to send emails to both the assignee of "strategy copy review" and "copy lead review." I'm able to send the email to the assignee of "strategy copy review" with the below automation (because it's directly linked to "draft copy"), but I can't seem to make anything work to reach the assignee for "copy lead review" to send the email. I've tried any combination I can think of for the "For" branching automations, but nothing seems to work. 

Thanks in advance!

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Emma Hecht 

Are the other two both subtasks of the "draft copy" one?  If so, you could branch to subtasks and then add conditions/actions necessary to send them in a loop to each respective assignee.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Emma Hecht]

Hi @Bill Sheboy —

Unfortunately, the other subtasks aren't subtasks of "draft copy." They're in a longer list of subtasks of a task issue type.

All of these subtasks are linked together when they are created by automation.

My concern is that I can't reach "copy lead review" and its fields by starting off an automation with the "draft copy" subtask. Thanks!

[Bill Sheboy]

Ah...they are sibling subtasks of a common parent issue.  In that case, please use a branch on JQL, such as:

• branch: on JQL of parent = {{triggerIssue.parent}} AND issueType = subtask (or whatever your type is)
  • condition: the summary (or other fields) match what you expect
  • action: send the email

[Emma Hecht]

Bill, this is PERFECT! Thank you so much! 

Just documenting this in case it helps someone else — I just had to tweak:

• The name of my custom subtask was "OC Subtask" — JQL didn't like the space between OC and Subtask, so I changed the name of that to OC-Subtask
• Uncheck the box by "Only include issues that have changed since the last time this rule executed" in the branch rule

Thank you again! I'm not super familiar with JQL, so this was super helpful.

[Bill Sheboy]

Awesome; I am glad that helped.

And...to help you learn more about JQL, here is a free, online class from Atlassian on building queries with JQL.  Knowing more about JQL can help with searches, rules, dashboards, and more.

https://university.atlassian.com/student/path/849533-gain-project-insights-through-jql

[Luis Machado]

Hi @Emma Hecht ,

Assuming you're wanting to send different messages to the assignees of the different linked issues, you could use two different branches separated by an if/else block.

You would just want to make sure to specify the link type if there is more than one linked issue associated with the trigger issue.

[Emma Hecht]

Hi @Luis Machado —

It looks like the else portion of this automation will send a notification for "copy lead review" after the "strategy copy review" task is marked as done? (To me, the logic you have reads: If the subtask that is marked done is "draft copy," send a notification to assignee of "strategy copy review" / If the subtask marked done is "strategy copy review," send a notification to the assignee of "copy lead review")

I need two notifications sent when "draft copy" is marked as done: one to assignee of "strategy copy review" and one to assignee of "copy lead review." 

I also need to send an email instead of making a comment.

I gave some more context in my reply to Bill Sheboy above as well. Thanks so much!

[Luis Machado]

Hey Emma,

Gotcha, I misunderstood then, thanks for the additional clarification, and yes you are looking to send emails I understand, I was using comments for my testing but you can swap that out for any action, I'm also largely using manual triggers to make it easier to test, you can swap that out with whatever trigger you need.

If you're looking to have the rule send an email to one assignee and then send another, possibly different email to the other assignee matching different criteria, you can run multiple branches to match those different criteria. I've included an example below:

The first branch looks for any linked issues, compares them against qualifications, and then performs an action. The second branch fires off and looks through the other sub-tasks associated with the parent of the trigger issue, for this I think the JQL that @Bill Sheboy provided is the best way to go about it. Conditions are applied, and an action is performed.

I'm not entirely confident about the sustainability of building out this rule to accommodate all the potential use cases based on the screenshot you shared. You might want to look at separating out the rules for some or each of the scenarios if you run into issues.

[Emma Hecht]

Thanks so much, Luis! That's helpful to know too!