Not too long ago, I had a hard time convincing Project Management teams to adopt Jira. Even though sister teams all around them, like Development, QA, and even Marketing, were already tracking their work in Jira, they just didn’t feel ready to give up using their familiar tools. When multiple separate tools are used for one process, you see some crazy things. At one company, PMs were exporting Jira data and importing it into their preferred tracking tool. There was no effort to sync or import that data back into Jira when they changed it, however. At another company, PMs printed out Jira issues and taped them to a physical whiteboard to display them with other project tracking details. Yuck!

I know—change is hard, and PMs love their Gantt charts! With the addition of new timeline, list, and calendar views in Jira Cloud, the days of tracking work in separate places are (hopefully) over! In this article, we’ll explore the Jira timeline view and how it helps teams visualize work and dependencies.

Good to Know

This article covers the timeline feature available in company-managed and team-managed projects, Jira Work Management and Jira Software, and the free and standard plans. It does not cover the cross-project planning and additional road mapping features available in Jira Cloud Premium and Enterprise or the similar timeline feature named “Product timeline” in Jira Product Discovery.

Access the Jira Timeline

In business Jira projects, access the timeline feature from the link in the top project-specific navigation bar. In software Jira projects, the timeline link is in the left sidebar.

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Timeline Setup Steps        

When you first visit the timeline page, it might not look like much. That’s because it needs data!

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Here are three things to check for and do to make sure your users can leverage the Jira timeline feature.

Add Epics

While epics aren’t required, they are a helpful way to categorize and bring structure to a long list of Jira issues. They also allow users to expand and collapse groups of issues on the timeline. If you’re new to epics or need instructions for adding them to Jira projects, check out my “How to Create an Epic in Jira” article.

Action Items

1. First, add the epic issue type to the project. In company-managed projects, modify the issue type scheme. In team-managed projects, use the  “Add issue type” button in the left sidebar in the project settings area.
2. Next, create an epic to represent each high-level work category, initiative, or long-term effort. In the example below, I created an epic called “Grow Revenue” (CON-12) to group work to accomplish that goal.
3. Finally, associate each issue with the epic they support. In the example below, I added the CON-1, CON-7, and CON-10 issues to the CON-12 epic.

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Tip: Timelines also support sub-tasks. Add them to your Jira project to display another level of issue data. In the example below, CON-14 and CON-15 are sub-tasks of CON-7.

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Add Dates

Next, the issues need dates to populate the visual chart. Jira needs to know when work will start and when it is scheduled to conclude. Use the “Start Date” field, which is a locked custom field, and the built-in “Due Date” field to capture and display this information.

Action Items

1. First, add the “Start Date” and “Due Date” fields to the project. In company-managed projects, add the fields to the screen(s). In team-managed projects, visit the project settings area and select an issue type. Then add the fields by dragging them from the right side of the page.
2. Next, visit each epic and enter an approximate start date and due date.
3. Finally, when timing information is known for parent and child issues, add dates to those issues, too.

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Tip: Order the fields on the screen so they make sense to the user. For example, I like to show the “Start Date” field first and the “Due Date” field second. Otherwise, I end up mixing them up, making the resulting data and chart less than helpful.

Add Issue Links

Now, the timeline view is becoming useful! Let’s add or verify one more thing to make it even better. Jira’s built-in issue-linking feature displays dependencies and allows users to query for related issues. We should verify that the linking feature is enabled and that the common link relationships are present.

In all types of Jira, issue links are configured from the Issue linking admin page.

Visit: Admin > issues > Issue linking

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Here are the issue links I use most often and how I use them. You can, of course, name and define these any way you’d like in your application. Just be sure to train your users how and when to use them. It’s important that everyone understands the terms and uses them similarly.

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Custom Issue Links

In my application, I’ve added a custom link type named “depends.” As described in the table above, the “blocks” relationship has a very strong meaning. No work can start until the blocker is removed. I use the “depends” relationship more loosely. When an issue depends on another, it’s possible that work can start or even occur in tandem but it’s unlikely work can complete until the other issue is resolved. Again, create and define these and other Jira settings in a way that makes sense for your users and application.

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Action Items

1. First, verify the issue linking feature is enabled.
2. Next, review the current link options and add any missing relationships.
3. Finally, link issues to other issues as desired.

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A red curved line represents the link relationship in the timeline. Click on the line to reveal linking details.

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As the screenshot shows, the issue titled “New Media Partnership” (CON-1) depends on the issue titled “New Terms of Service Section” (CON-3). As a project manager, the availability of new terms impacts another initiative and is something I should closely monitor.

The dependency relationship is also reflected in each linked Jira issue.

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By verifying or adding epics, dates, and issue linking you’ll ensure the Jira timeline shows the helpful visual data team members and project managers crave.

Detecting Configuration Changes in Salto

Earlier in this article, I mentioned creating a custom issue link type called “depends.” Making configuration changes directly in production isn’t my style. I like to make them in a test environment first so I understand their impact. Unfortunately, there are no native Jira tools to help compare differences between my sandbox and live environment nor deploy changes between them. That’s where the Salto Configuration Manager for Jira app comes in. I use Salto’s compare feature to see any configuration differences and decide whether to promote certain changes to production.

The screenshot below shows many configuration differences, including the addition of the new “depends” link type. Salto shows all the settings' properties, such as the inward description, outward description, and dependencies, if any. I can choose to deploy only this specific configuration change or to include it in a larger deployment package with other changes.

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Activities to Try

Now it’s your turn! Visit the timeline in each of your Jira application’s projects. If the data doesn’t display correctly, or there’s no visual representation of work, use the instructions above to improve the project’s configuration.

Resources

• Jira timeline guide — https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/basic-roadmaps/overview#timeline 
• What is the timeline view, and how do I use it? — https://support.atlassian.com/jira-work-management/docs/what-is-the-timeline-view-and-how-do-i-use-it 
• Manage and visualize your project on the timeline view — https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/create-manage-and-visualize-work-on-the-timeline