Can JIRA automatically update story status based on subtask changes?

Other Questions Jira
1

Syncing Story and Subtask Statuses in JIRA

I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to make my JIRA board smarter. Here’s what I’m hoping to do:

  1. When I start working on a subtask and move it to “In Progress,” I want the main story to automatically change to “In Progress” too.

  2. Also, it would be great if the story could automatically close when all its subtasks are finished.

Is this possible in JIRA? Maybe there’s a plugin or setting I’m missing? I feel like this would save a lot of time and keep everything more organized.

Has anyone set up something like this before? What’s the best way to go about it?

Thanks for any help or ideas!

2

hey mate, i’ve used scriptrunner for jira to do this. it’s pretty slick. you can write groovy scripts that trigger when subtasks change status. it’ll auto-update the parent story status based on your logic. just be careful with complex workflows, it can get messy. good luck!

3

While JIRA doesn’t offer this functionality out-of-the-box, you can achieve it through automation rules or plugins. I’ve found the ‘Automation for Jira’ app particularly useful for this purpose. It allows you to create custom rules that can update parent issues based on subtask changes.

For your specific needs, you’d set up two rules:

  1. When any subtask moves to ‘In Progress’, update the parent story to ‘In Progress’ if it’s not already.

  2. When all subtasks are ‘Done’, transition the parent story to ‘Closed’.

Keep in mind that these automations can sometimes lead to unexpected behavior, especially in complex workflows. It’s crucial to thoroughly test and monitor the rules after implementation. Also, ensure your team is aware of these automations to prevent confusion or accidental status changes.

4

I’ve actually implemented something similar in my organization, and it’s been a game-changer for our workflow. We used JIRA’s built-in automation rules to achieve this. It took some initial setup, but it’s been worth it.

For automatically updating the main story status, we created a rule that triggers when any subtask moves to ‘In Progress’. It checks if the parent story is in a status before ‘In Progress’, and if so, transitions it.

As for closing stories, we set up another rule that fires when a subtask is moved to ‘Done’. It checks if all other subtasks are complete, and if they are, it closes the main story.

One caveat: these rules can sometimes conflict with other workflows, so it’s crucial to test thoroughly before fully implementing. Also, make sure your team is on board with this automation to avoid confusion.

Overall, it’s definitely doable and has saved us countless hours of manual updates. Good luck with your implementation!