I’ve been looking around forums and documentation trying to figure out if Jira supports nested subtasks or if there are any workarounds. From what I can tell, many users want the ability to create subtasks under other subtasks, similar to how other project management tools handle task hierarchies.
Right now it seems like you can only have one level of subtasks under a main issue. Has anyone found a way to create deeper task structures? Are there any add-ons or plugins that enable this kind of functionality? I’m wondering if this is something that’s being worked on for future releases or if there’s already a solution I’m missing.
Jira does not provide support for multi-level subtasks, which has indeed been a point of frustration for many teams. A practical workaround I’ve found is to adopt the Epic-Story-Subtask structure instead. By creating an Epic for the overarching feature, you can further divide it into Stories that represent major components and then assign Subtasks under those Stories. This method effectively allows for a three-level hierarchy. Additionally, employing issue linking with custom types, like ‘decomposed into’ or ‘part of’, offers another layer of connection for tracking dependencies without true nesting. While it’s not a perfect solution, it maintains a clear relationship for managing tasks.
Been dealing with this for years. The best workaround I’ve found is custom issue types with linked issues. We created fake ‘intermediate tasks’ that sit between stories and subtasks - they can have real subtasks under them. Not pretty, but it works. Just stay disciplined with naming or you’ll create chaos fast. If you’ve got budget, BigPicture plugin handles hierarchies way better than native Jira. Atlassian keeps saying they know people want this, but don’t hold your breath for native support.
i feel ya on that! jira can be a pain with its rigid structure. heard about the structure plugin, but it comes with a price. hope they make some changes soon!