Next Gen Story and Epic Link

[Matthew Arquette]

I'm interested in leveraging the Next Gen functionality, but want to keep the hierarchy of epics and stories (i.e. you can link multiple stories to a given Epic). Does anyone know if this is possible in Next Gen?

[Nathan Sturgess · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone, 

Parent can now be selected as a column in the Global Issue Navigator and exported from Jira.

[Gabriel Viger]

It doesn't seem to work for me. Can you have a look at my file please? Here is a screenshot:

[Jeremy Whittington]

I am having the same problem. I see parent id, but that gives you a warning that it will be ignored.

[Dionie Olo]

You can do this in the next-gen scrum and kanban.

1. create a few epics in the Roadmap
2. in the backlog, select multiple stories
3. on the upper right part of the highlighted story, click on the context menu "..." 
4. click on "Add to epic" (or "Add Parent")
5. select the epic you want

Hope this helps.

[Mark]

Thank you Dionie, hopefully this gets repicked as accepted answer - looks like users are still getting frustrated bu the above (incorrect) accepted answer.

[carolyn french]

I double checked this and was able to reproduce the steps from the answer- thanks, @Dionie Olo . And will accept the answer as you recommend @Mark .

(Step 2, you go to the Board to select either one story or more than one by using command or ctrl)

However, please check/watch for updates on this related in-progress issue:

As a user, I'd like to be able to use JQL for Epic Link for Next-Gen project epics

[Ian Colwell]

Note that this option seems to have changed from "Add to epic" to "Add Parent". I wasted too much time realizing this :|

[Jason LaCarrubba]

Why can't we just select an epic at the time of story creation? Seems like a very trivial thing to me...

[Jason Beveridge]

Agreed. I'd like to be able to define this value at the point of issue creation, rather than having to go back afterwards and assign the parent epic. ..

[Eoin]

@Jason LaCarrubba we're looking to rebuild the create issue screen for next-gen in the medium term and we originally were planning on bundling the assign to epic change with this work - given we have received some feedback around this, including yours, we'll look at the opportunity cost of investing in extending the existing create issue in the short term. I can update when we have more info. Thanks for your feedback

[Laura Bowers]

Why is it labelled "parent" instead of "epic" when the Epic is the issue type being associated with the issue?

[Christian Zelada]

Agree: Why is it labelled "parent" instead of "epic" when the Epic is the issue type being associated with the issue? , but "parent" works for me.

[Mike Solomon]

@Laura Bowers @Christian Zelada 

My guess is that not everyone refers to them as "Epics" and so the "Add to Parent" option is there to support Jira users who have created custom hierarchies. There are examples of custom hierarchies where people use "Episodes" and "Sagas" [0].

This is just a guess. Maybe there is someone from the Atlassian team who could speak on behalf of the product.

[0] https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/scale-agile-practices-with-programs-in-portfolio-for-jira

[Christian Zelada]

It took me a long time to understand why my dashboard stopped working with the "epic" filters and the solution was quite simple, Maybe Atlassian must add this tips in nex-gen articules.

[Ben Jackson]

@Laura Bowers  and @Christian Zelada  It is 'Add to Parent' for a few reasons. As mentioned by @Mike Solomon not everyone calls them Epics (you can rename that level to something relevant to your process).

The second reason is that in the future Next-gen projects will support more levels above epic and so 'Add to Parent' will become a common pattern.

[Alon Carmel]

omg, this was so hard to find! aahhhgggg

[Ángel Jiménez]

Also supporting @Jason LaCarrubba's point from here. Can't wait to be able to select the parent issue in the creation window!

I would like to suggest also that the parent issue should be more visible in the edition window for an issue, right now it is kind of hidden at the top, it would be very nice to have it like in the classic view, as a tag with the epic name and backgrounded with its color.

[Jake Remitz]

Do you have an ETA @Eoin on when something will be provided to add epic at issue creation time?  A different issue this is tracked in that this conversation can be tracked? Thanks!

[Eoin]

The best way right now is to filter on the epic and then use the inline create. This will automatically add an epic to the issue you have created. We'll look to improve this further in the future and there is no ETA for that at the moment.

[Deleted user]

@Eoin - please try to hurry up - look at the number of likes Jason_LaCarrubba Jun 25, 2019's reply has gotten compared to the rest, this is something that MOST OF US are sorely looking for at this point - can you make sure it gets on the roadmap?

[markd2]

It's been a couple  of years - I can't find being able to add an epic outside doing it after the fact on every single issue as separate steps.  Bulk-selecting and adding the epic doesn't seem to apply, so back to lots of clicky-clicky :-(

[Ben Whaley]

I have to say, this is the WORST UX. Using the Jira Mac app, my workflow is:

1. Open the kanban view
2. Filter by epic
3. Create issue
4. Try to click the issue before the tiny notification window disappears
5. It disappears too quickly, so now I have to unselect the epic
6. Type in a search to find the issue that I just created
7. Open issue options, click Assign to Epic
8. Close issue
9. Repeat * n more issues

I don't have words for how irritating this is. Frankly, it is a good example of the type of encumbrance that has long plagued Jira and has damaged its reputation.

Please allow us to link an epic when creating an issue!

[Mark Brunwin]

I reported this issue  - as I want to be able to search Issues by Epic and the JQL search doesn't work. The Atlassian support team agree and a bug has been raised for it

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-17389

I hope it gets fixed, as this is pretty fundamental to be able to work with Epics in NextGen projects!

[Gary Febbrarino]

I am having the same issue and really agree that if this is not working then how can we use the next-gen projects ??? 

Answer is we can not... 

Also raised: Jira-Next-Gen-Project-can-not-see-the-sum-of-story-points

[Deleted user]

me too, I need to be able to search by epic link in JQL and to see Epic link in exports of tasks to csv/excel!

[Scott Bailey]

Ditto.  I've just convinced the project team to switch from Azure DevOps (VSTS) to Jira.  One of the main reasons was you could not show which Epic a story was tied to in a VSTS query.  

How dumb that it can no longer be done in Jira.

Agree that classic Jira was complex, but at least it worked.

[Nathan Sturgess]

Hi,

With the release of subtasks you will be able to use an OR statement and parent = in Advanced JQL to get the Epics from both Classic and Next-gen.

An example of such a query would be: 
"Epic Link" = NPC-6 OR parent = NJDP-5

There is a subsequent body of work that we are just about to start that will give:

• Epic suggestions in Basic and Advanced JQL search
• Parent data in the Issue List View and in exported data

Regards,
Nate

[Rogier Simonis | MKB Brandstof]

That sounds great @Nathan Sturgess . Just to be clear:

As a user, I would like to be able to do this:

- When I create an issue i want to be able to link the issue to a parent (so in the create issue screen)

- When I view an issue i want to be able to see/edit the parent (directly, not via a sub menu in the right top corner)

- When I search for issues i want to be able to see the parent

- The parent link should be clickable on which a screen opens which shows me all issues (childs) of the parent

I hope this is not too much to ask? Is this something we can expect this year? (we might move back to the previous gen project if epics/parent links are kept hidden in next gen projects)

[Nathan Sturgess]

Hi @Rogier Simonis | MKB Brandstof ,

No, not too much at all.

- When I search for issues i want to be able to see the parent

This is next up on my roadmap, we are just finishing some Epic API work and then we will pick up that work.

I will ping internally now to get a response on the other points for you. 

Regards,

Nate

[Eoin]

Hi @Rogier Simonis | MKB Brandstof - we'll be looking to iterate on the visibility of and interaction with the parent within the issue view very soon. Send me an email to eryan@atlassian.com if you would be keen on being part of some exploratory testing around this. Thanks 

[Mike Nowak]

I am a bit confused @Nathan Sturgess  Response above seems to suggest that I can do something like this on a next gen project.

project = "project name" and parent = EPICNAME

and get a result in advanced JQL, but I'm having no such luck. 

[Nathan Sturgess]

Hi @Mike Nowak 

The project = is redundant as you are specifying a specific epic via the parent =.

Also you should search on the issue key, not the name. 

e.g 

parent = FOO-123 

Regards,

Nathan

[Mike Nowak]

@Nathan Sturgess  Thanks! Searching on Issue key was the mistake I was making. 

Now is there any way to add parent link, parent name, or parent id to show as a column on the issue list? For some reason parent link is empty and the others are not options for adding as a column.

[Nathan Sturgess]

@Mike Nowak  the ability to have parent as a column is being worked on now. So you should have that shortly. 

For further questions just email me direct so that we don't spam people on this thread.

nsturgess at atlassian.com thanks mate

[Rominiek Schoonen]

To me this is a fundamental addition to the discussion that saved me a lot of searching.

Thanks @Mike Nowak 

@Nathan Sturgess When will this functionallity be available?

[Nathan Sturgess]

@Rominiek Schoonen It is close to being rolled out. I will notify the thread when it is done.

[Nathan Sturgess]

Hi @Mike Nowak and @Rominiek Schoonen this has now been rolled out. Please excuse the delay. 

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-17239

[Rominiek Schoonen]

Thanks for informing @Nathan Sturgess appreciate it.

[walter]

this is not working for me, when i use ctrl to select mutiple storeis and add to epic, only the last one was added, the other didnt. 

[Laura Bowers]

Have you tried using shift instead? I'm on a mac and in order to select multiple stories, I need to click on the first story in the list, hold shift and then click on the last story.

[walter]

yes, i have. i can use ctlr or shift to multi-select stories. however, what i meet is, i multi-selected, they are shown as blue, but i click add epic, only the last one storied are added to epic.

[Rogier Simonis | MKB Brandstof]

Is it also possible to show the Epic (parent issue) in a story (I don't see the option in the 'Configure Fields' screen)

[Jyoti Shankar]

Please enable showing the parents (or Epics) in the Configure fields screen! This is so essential for reporting and ease of use.

[marco_molteni]

I am flabbergasted. How can it be possible to market next-gen that gives the impression to support epics but it doesn't support:

- querying for epics

- look at a ticket and answer the basic question: does it belongs to an epic ? 

I am speechless.

[Gregg Ord-Hume]

It does support epics

[Gregg Ord-Hume]

Look under the Roadmaps section. Those are epics you can scale to timelines. Pretty neat.

Although the language and means to do things is frustrating and entices anger. Probably why you couldn't find it.

So epics are called Roadmaps... and Parents. If you want to create an epic you go to Roadmaps. If you want to assign a ticket to an epic you say "change issue parent".

You cant add sub tasks to anything. So instead treat epics as stories and sub tasks as tickets.

I know right... good luck 

[marco_molteni]

Thanks Gregg for your empathy :-), I expressed myself in a unclear way. Yes, it supports epic in the roadmap view and you can manipulate epics as you mention. All the other problems I listed are still there. I drank my Kool Aid. And now, two hours later, I can even smile.

[Kenneth Li]

The child stories must also belong to the same project as the parent (epic). Much less flexible, and not useful for my purposes.

[Louise Cranfield]

Just reported this as an issue too - was loving Next Gen up until I discovered this problem... none of my standard project dashboards work for a next gen project! 

[Rodrigo_Silveira]

The time for workarounds is over. I want a software engineering solution with an amazing User Experience. 

[Jason LaCarrubba]

Just switch to Pivotal Tracker. Jira is no good. I'm actively pushing for my company to switch.

[Rodrigo_Silveira]

This and all the dialog we have seen on related threads indicate that Atlasians is got with their paints down, a deer in the headlights, and has no concrete plans to deal with it. 

A shame.

In fairness, a few years ago, I applied for the job of the person who is leading this effort. They failed our community.

I'm looking for alternatives.

[Gregg Ord-Hume]

Yes Rodrigo! Please come back here and post alternatives if you find any worth while. Please just dont use Asansa, it sucks,

[Brandin Lewis]

Clubhouse has been pretty great, actually. I've been setting all my new client projects in that tool and haven't looked back. 

Simple to set up, and best of all, it just WORKS!

No roadmap tool yet, but from the looks of it, Jira doesn't offer a useful roadmap tool either. I supplement TeamGantt for any roadmaps needed - the first project is free. 

Unfortunately, some clients are tied to the hip with this software.

[Tomas Boman]

Some apps don't support the "Epic Name / Parent" field from next gen projects.  Does anyone know of a tool or bulk procedure that can populate the "Epic Link" field based on the "Epic Name / Parent" field?

[Nathan Sturgess]

Hi @Tomas Boman

There is no notion of "Epic Link" or "Epic Name" fields or columns in Next-gen. They actually don't exist at all on the backend. The name that is shown on the board and in search for Next-gen base level issue types comes from the parent Epic's "Issue summary". So "Epic Link" can't be "populated" because it doesn't actually exist in Next-gen. But there is the "parent" as mentioned by you.

What are you looking to do exactly?

Regards,

Nate

[Tomas Boman]

Weird that you say"Epic Link" doesn't exist in nextgen project.  When I the query filter and choose to show the "Epic Link" column for my nextgen project, some of my tickets do indeed have a populated "Epic Link" value.  The parent epics belong to an old-school project, but the stories in the epic belongs to a nextgen project.  Perhaps that is a bug that we have been exploiting?

I am using 3rd party apps in Jira Cloud, which can only group on "Epic Link", not on "Parent".  By manually adding my nextgen stories to the corresponding classic epics, I can run reports on "Epic Link", but I have to manually add them and make sure they match their parents.

I was hoping there was a bulk edit that could do my manual work for me.

[hromero]

Is any way to "add parent" mother than an Epic ? for instance I want to create this hierarchy  

Epic-> Feature-> Story-> Task, but the limitations of Jira NexGen dont let me do it 

[Mathias Weber]

Anyone has any idea how to do this? This would be a major help to have a hierarchy: Epic-> Feature-> Story-> Task

[Mike Solomon]

@Matthew Arquette this is currently possible. You'll need to enable the "Roadmap" feature in your Project Settings: https://cl.ly/64032e7b810a

I will say that it is a different experience than classic projects. There is no Epic panel in the backlog and it seems like JQL to find child issues is not the same.

[Christian Bisson]

how do you actually find child issues with next-gen epics? I've been searching everywhere for this answer...

[Mike Solomon]

@Christian Bisson only way I know how is to go to the issue detail page for the epic to see all of the children

[Christian Bisson]

@Mike Solomon
yeah it's all I found too, but I need to export all this and be able to report by EPICs, even the export doesn't have the EPIC data for the issues so I can't even find an external workaround with Excel for example

[Mike Solomon]

@Christian Bisson yeah -- this functionality gap is holding me back from moving to Next-Gen as well :( 

[Christian Bisson]

@Mike Solomon I hear ya!

I asked them what's up with that, here is the answer:

Indeed, with the Next-Gen projects and Epics being launched we can't use the Epic Link field to return issues that are linked to the Next-Gen epic as we can do for the classic projects.
I have it reported to our product team here to give the ability to use the issue navigator to return issues that are linked to a Next-Gen Epic.

Unfortunately, we don't have a different workaround to achieve this as the one that you already mentioned.

Christian, I strongly recommend you to vote in this feature request and drop a comment to let the product management know about your use case. By doing this, it will ensure you're proactively informed of progress and updates going forward.

[Christian Bisson]

go vote please ;)

[michael ryan]

When I try to Bulk Edit an Epic Link.  I get this "unlabeled-id-42"  or 43 or whatever problem.

The Epic appears in other locations but won't work in the Bulk Edit menu.

Issue 42 is an Epic.

[Deleted user]

Same problem here. Have you been able to find a solution in the meantime, @michael ryan ?

[Kenneth Li]

Yes, it's going back to classic projects :)

[michael ryan]

just keep an extra window open so I can see my list of Epics.   yeah. like that.

[Jason einon]

not nice to have such a key feature taken away

[Jack Brickey]

It is not currently possible but the capabilities are frequently changing and may be possible in the not to distant future. You can enter feedback under your profile pic.

[Gregg Ord-Hume]

Well this sucks! Now what?

[Scott Bailey]

LOL.... not do distant future measured in years.  I just converted my project to classic.  Took about a day and disrupted the reports and links other members had set to the old project.  

1. Create a new classic project
2. Align status' and columns
3. Go into each Epic in NextGen project to see all the stories tied to it
4. Do a bulk edit of all the stories to add a label unique to that epic.  Add same label to epic.  I used E-<###> where ### is the number from the Next Gen Epic.
5. Use Jira Functionality to 'Move' items
6. The item numbers from the next gen project are not carried into the new project
7. Use jql to find stories to link to an epic, using the label created above.
8. Use bulk edit to link the stories to the new epic.
9. Rebuild all issue filters in Jira and Confluence to point to new project.  Any query that uses a specific item id will need to be changed to reference the new item ID

You're done.  Easy peasy.  10 hours + out of your schedule.

[Gregg Ord-Hume]

haha! Literally how it works. Spending time trying to save time spending.

Thanks for your response but I cant do that. I shouldn't have to do that is my thought. I shouldn't have to accept poor testing in 2019. What happened to Beta testing. What happened to user feedback. What happened to focus groups?

Just disappointing really.

[Mark]

@Gregg Ord-Hume @Scott Bailey @Jack Brickey @Matthew Arquette See @Dionie Olo's answer below.

[Scott Bailey]

Thanks @Mark .  The challenge has not been how to add NextGen stories to an Epic.  The challenge has been how to use the Epic/Story link in more advanced features such as JQL queries, reports, exports, view results on a Confluence page...

All our projects have been switched to classic Jira or back to Azure Dev Ops so we are no longer impacted by NextGen.  

[Jason LaCarrubba]

Use Pivotal Tracker

[kpink]

Not that i know of . I believe you need to buy Portfolio

[Jason LaCarrubba]

pivotaltracker.com

[kpink]

without an parent/epic link field you can only import orphan issues and then assign them.  too much work

[Jason einon]

A work around I have had to use instead of going back to the legacy project is to add a label field, each task / story created I can then use the following jql query in confluence to pull back jira's per epic. 

project = "project name" AND "workstream label" = "label id"

[Rodrigo_Silveira]

I did this a few months ago, it works, but it is VERY BRITTLE. Need the real functionality!