I’m working with Jira issue linking and I’m confused about something specific.
When you create connections between tickets in Jira, most link types make sense to me. Like when I duplicate ticket A to create ticket B, one shows ‘duplicates’ and the other shows ‘is duplicated by’. Same thing happens with cloning where the original says ‘has clone’ and the copy says ‘is cloned from’.
But I’m struggling with the related links. When I connect two tickets using the ‘relates to’ option, one ticket displays ‘This issue relates to…’ while the other shows ‘This issue is a relative of…’.
This creates weird situations where the same ticket might show it ‘relates to’ some issues but is ‘a relative of’ others. Even though they’re the same link type, the wording makes them look different.
How do other teams handle this? Do you have specific rules for which direction to create these links? The inconsistent display is confusing our team members when they review connected tickets.
This issue with Jira’s link types can indeed cause perplexity among team members. The discrepancy in terminology, where one issue may state ‘relates to’ while the interconnected one reads ‘is a relative of’, can lead to misunderstandings. In my experience, it helps to establish clear guidelines for link creation. Consistently linking in a specific direction—such as always connecting new tickets to their parent tickets—can alleviate some of the confusion. Additionally, consider whether customizing link types would streamline your process, making it clearer what each connection signifies without the ambiguous wording.
same here, it’s so annoyin lol. we just ignore the wording and treat them the same. our team lead said to stop overthinkin it - they’re bidirectional anyway. maybe add a quick note in ur docs that both phrases mean the same thing? saves headaches later.
The confusion with Jira’s link types is a common issue across teams. The two different phrases, ‘relates to’ and ‘is a relative of’, essentially represent the same connection but can create misunderstandings. In my experience, fostering a culture where the team recognizes that both terms convey neutrality can help alleviate concerns. Some teams opt to disable the ‘relates to’ link altogether, instead choosing to create custom links that clearly define their relationships, which can reduce ambiguity in workflows.