Managing dependencies
When planning work for your teams, it helps to monitor the dependencies across the issues in the plan. This helps you spot any issues that are blocking the progress of other issues, and ultimately helps you create a realistic schedule for your teams.
Before you begin
To use dependencies in the new experience, dependencies must already be configured in Portfolio for Jira. If dependencies are not configured yet, see Managing Portfolio dependencies (current documentation) to know how.
Displaying the dependencies columns in a plan
- In the roadmap view of the plan, click more (
) in the fields section. - Select the Dependencies checkbox. The 'Incoming dependencies' and 'Outgoing dependencies' columns will be displayed.
When the dependency fields are already displaying in your plan, the dependencies of any issues will be also be displayed in the corresponding columns.
| 1 | The incoming dependencies and outgoing dependencies columns, where the dependencies of an issue will appear as an issue count. |
| 2 | Click the dependencies field of an issue, to view the associated dependencies in detail. |
| 3 | The details of the associated dependencies, which include:
|
| 4 | The number of dependencies that a particular issue has. A number on the left of the schedule block means there are (n) outgoing dependencies for the issue, while a number on the right means there are (n) incoming dependencies. You can also click on the number to view the associated dependencies in detail. |
When you're auto-scheduling your plan, note that the lead time that appears in the dependency details is not an auto-scheduled value.
Sample lead time of a dependency when a plan is auto-scheduled
Filtering issues with dependencies
When planning work across multiple streams, filtering issues with dependencies helps to quickly narrow down any potential blockers that need the attention of your teams.
Sample plan, filtering a specific issue with dependencies, and including the dependency chain
To filter issues with dependencies:
- In your plan, click the Filters drop-down.
- Choose which issues with dependencies to display, using any of the following:
- All issues, to show all issues included in the plan, regardless of whether or not the issues have dependencies.
- Has dependencies, to show only issues that have dependencies.
- Specific issue, to show a specific issue from all the issues in the plan. The filtered issue will be displayed, whether or not it has dependencies. This helps you view any dependencies of that issue, or add a dependency to the filtered issue, if needed.
As an option, you can choose to include the dependency chain of a specific issue. This effectively filters both the direct dependencies and indirect dependencies of the issue.
For example, in your plan, you have TIS-1 blocking TIS-2 — with TIS-2 also blocking TIS-6 and PERF-1.
If you specifically filter for TIS-1, and you include its dependency chain, then the direct dependency TIS-2, and the indirect dependencies TIS-6 and PERF-1 will display in the plan.
Adding a dependency to an issue
When adding a dependency to an issue, note that the dependency type will depend on which side of the issue you're adding the dependency.
Sample issue without any dependencies
In the sample above...
- If you click the add icon on the right, the result would be IOS-24 is blocking the selected issue.
- If you click the add icon on the left, the result would be: PERF-2 is blocked by the selected issue.
To add a dependency to an issue:
- In your plan, hover the issue for which you want to add a dependency. The add icons will appear, at either side of the issue where there's no dependency yet.
- Click the add icon where you want to add the dependency.
- Choose the dependent issue that you want to link to the issue.
- Click the check icon. The dependency dialog will be displayed, showing the added dependency for the issue.
- Save the dependency changes by doing the following:
- Click Review changes. The 'Review changes' dialog will display, with all changes selected by default.
- Make sure the checkboxes for the dependency changes are selected, then click Save selected changes in Jira.
You can also add multiple dependencies to an issue. Add and specify the details for the dependencies before clicking Review changes. When you're done, review and save your changes in Jira.
Scheduling dependencies
After adding a dependency to an issue, you can easily adjust the dates of the linked issues by dragging either end of the schedule block.
Note that if you reschedule an issue that results to conflicting dates for any of its dependent issues, then the corresponding number badges of the affected dependencies will turn red.
Issue dependencies with aligned dates
Red number badges, indicating conflicting dates for issues with dependencies
Removing a dependency from an issue
For issue dependencies to be displayed in the new experience, you'll need to add the dependency fields to your plan first.
- View the dependencies of the issue in detail. The dependency details will be displayed.
- Find the dependency that you want to remove from the issue.
- Click the delete icon next to the dependency.
- Save the dependency changes by doing the following:
- Click Review changes. The 'Review changes' dialog will display, with all changes selected by default.
- Make sure the checkboxes for the dependency changes are selected, then click Save selected changes in Jira.
You can also remove multiple dependencies from an issue. Remove the dependencies first, and then review and save your changes in Jira.