Create issue from epic
Problem to solve
Summary
It's not possible to create an issue from within an epic, leading to a frustrating, overly complex workflow to break an epic into smaller issues for implementation. This has been referenced in no less than 6 customer calls (as of 10/30/19) as a major blocker for adoption
Job Story
When breaking an Epic apart into issues, I want to be able to create a new Issue directly from the Epic I am working on, so I can create multiple Issues quickly without having to navigate to a different page or open a new tab, then switch back.
Situation
When I'm working on a roadmap for a specific feature or feature set...
Motivation
I need to create issues that correspond to a given epic that enable me to break down an epic into more digestible vertical feature slices... Force: It's frustrating to have to go create an issue in another tab, then come back to the tab with the epic, and add it as a related issue manually.
Force: It's annoying that the proposed solution forces me to just create a stub, then open the issue in another window to edit it further. This breaks the workflow and is counter to how I ideally expect to efficiently iterate on a roadmap.
Expected Outcome
So that I can quickly iterate on the issues that comprise the larger epic...
Intended users
Product managers, project managers, directors
Further details
- There are several use cases included in the broader goals for iterating on the epics view to make it a more coherent and efficient workflow for building a roadmap (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/13242).
Actual Customer "Minimal Marketable Feature" Criteria:
Plan needs to be able to easily be refined, ideally without screen switching, to add break-downs until the leaf items are user stories small enough to be done in a sprint (e.g. 2 weeks).
Need some way to lay out high level view and plan (think Initiatives and Features in Rally screenshot) – needs to indicate parent/child relationship directly, highly editable without constant screen switching, etc.
Proposal
Important
- We still need to support adding an issue manually and not have a regression in feature capabilities.
MVC Proposed Workflow - Inline, Not Editable Within Epics
- Create issue from epic, inline, similar to how you can do that from an issue board.
- Should not navigate you away from the epic itself.
- All you do is enter the issue title, select project, and submit it inline.
Next Iteration
Provide the capability to work with an issue without leaving the epic view. (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/13319)
Open Questions
-
This issue as stated is only addressing creating issues. How much additional work would it be to apply the same constructs to create epics from within epics? If it's large, we can expose this behavior in a follow-on issue. -
How we will support adding an issue manually to an epic (current functionality) so we don't introduce any regressions?
Implementation Notes
- Use components from Pajamas. If they don't exist, contribute them if at all possible. Let's try to only create custom front-end components as an absolute last resort.
Permissions and Security
- Permissions should mirror the current configuration for those who can epic/update epics within a given group.
Documentation
-
Update Epics Documentation
Testing
- If we opt for an option with more issue interaction within an epic view, we will need to thoroughly test that all issue functionality we are exposing works the same as working within an issue view.
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
Success Metrics
- Count of issues created from within epics over a given period, avg. issues created per unique users over a given period.
- Discrete action count for creating a minimum issue within an epic is 3-4 or fewer (not inclusive of clicks within an issue such as tabbing from field to field, etc.). This would be represent something like a ~40% efficiency gain over the current workflow. (current workflow is something similar to: right click + open issue list in new tab, select project, start issue creation, enter title, submit, copy URL, switch to epic tab, click
+
, paste Issue URL, click "Add"
Acceptance Criteria
-
A user can create an issue from within an epic. -
A user can still manually add an existing issue to an epic. -
We are collecting the relevant telemetry to view the success metrics. -
Overall test coverage increases or stays the same (meaning we've at a minimum appropriately added unit and integration tests for this feature) -
The selected option from the Proposal helps us intentionally get closer to the goal of a more streamlined user experience when working within epics (i.e. a user shouldn't need to open 40+ tabs to plan out a multi-level feature).
What is the type of buyer?
- Ultimate / Gold
Links / references
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