When you’d like to bring more visualization into your Jira workflow, timeline is the best solution to do it the right way. It helps you and all your team easily spot the timing, duration, and dependencies between issues to see how long tasks take to complete and when they will be delivered.
In this article, we’re going to take a close look at why you need a timeline and how to create a Jira timeline view in just a few simple steps with Jira extensions.
This article contains:
- What is a project timeline?
- How to create Jira timeline with Planyway
- Other software for timeline project management
- Conclusion
What is a project timeline?
A project timeline is the visualization of your project breakdown from the very beginning to the competition covering all tasks and milestones, with assigned deadlines. The timeline view lets you keep track of due dates and coordinate work so that you deliver the project on time.
Here’s are the main reasons why timeline is so helpful for project management:
- All teammates get access to the clear project overview
- Project steps become visible
- Each task has a visible due date
- Tasks are allocated to team members
- It can be shared with external stakeholders
- Updates happen in real time
The timeline view can be used from different perspectives. It is not only a perfect way to build your project roadmap to see how work is progressing. It can also be a very effective instrument for resource planning and project portfolio management.
Now, let’s dive into more detail and see how to implement it all in Jira environment.
How to create Jira timeline with Planyway
The easiest way to get started and visualize your Jira projects on the timeline is the Planyway app. The tool is super handy for those who want to bring more visibility across projects without excessive complexity, and it can help use the timeline to the max.
Here are the main steps to take in order to create your timeline:
Choose the right view
Planyway allows you to visualize your workflow from different angles. Instead of just having the basic timeline view, you can also group it by team members for easier resource planning. Also, for those who are working on multiple projects at a time, there is a project grouping that lets you build your project portfolio.
Adjust the scale
Depending on your workflow and issue duration, you may adjust your timeline to a better scale. With Planyway you can work in the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual views.
Schedule issues
When the view is set up, it’s the right moment to start planning out issues. You have a chance to match Planyway start and end dates with the accurate Jira fields. Some issues, that already have dates, will show up on your timeline automatically. Then, you may simply drag cards from your Jira board to the timeline and drop them on the right date.
Visualize subtasks
If you want to visualize the hierarchy of tasks, you may choose to schedule subtasks as well. Once you add dates to a subtask, it shows up along with regular Jira issues on the timeline. At any moment, you have a choice to hide them and return to a more high-level planning.
Allocate work to team members
Task allocation can be done in two ways. You can keep doing it through the issue card by adding responsible members. Alternatively, you may drag cards to the Team Timeline, so that the issue will be assigned when it’s added to someone’s lane.
This way is super handy when you’d like to allocate new work pieces based on the current workload and availability, as you can easily spot potential candidates. The workload mode will also help you balance the workload to make sure no one is overloaded.
Connect multiple projects
When your team works across projects, make use of the multi-board view. Connect all projects you want to keep track of at the same time and see their issues visualized together on one timeline.
Add milestones and releases
There is no project plan without milestones and releases. You can plan out releases along with your Jira issues and see how much work is done already. Milestones play the role of key date tracker that visually remind you of important due dates.
See only what you need
Sometimes your timeline may seem too overwhelming, and it might be hard to find what you need from the first glimpse in complex projects. For better navigation, apply filters to see only issues of certain type, status, or allocated to certain team members.
Price: Starts at USD 10.00 per user monthly
Other software for timeline project management
1. Project Timeline
This app allows you to keep track of epics on the annual Jira timeline chart along with the scheduled releases. The epics are represented with the progress bar and can be rolled out to see included issues. Project TimeLine also has the forecasting feature to predict completion dates and possible delays.
Price: Starts at USD 10.00 per user monthly
2. Timeline
This tool makes it possible to group your timeline by any Jira field like version, assignee, reporter, epic, etc. Also, you can sort issues by priority, assign permissions and find issues by name or author.
Price: Available only as a Cloud and Datacenter version. Starts at USD 270 annually for teams up to 50 users
3. Timeline for Jira
This extension primarily lets you use the timeline in two ways: ordered by team members or by versions. It has a nice and easy-to-use interface, but unfortunately the app doesn't work with DateTime fields, so you have to use date custom fields which might be not very convenient.
Price: paid plan starts for teams bigger than 10 users from USD 0.35 per user monthly
4. Activity Timeline
Activity Timeline is mainly focused on the team capacity planning and workforce utilization on the cross-project basis. Here you can get representation of your Jira issues not only by users but by teams as well. Team grouping lets you plan on the high level and becomes a great choice when you need to plan the workflow for multiple teams at a time.
Price: Starts at USD 10.00 per user monthly
5. Staffing Timeline
Another app to keep track of your resources to plan work on projects, vacations, or any other activities. Here you can manage work in the daily and hourly scale, limit the number of working hours and block holidays and leaves.
Price: Starts at USD 1.75 per user monthly
Conclusion
Having so many options to build your Jira project timeline, it’s time to get rolling. Make use of our tips on how to get started with adapting your workflow to the visual planning instrument and see that keeping track of projects and teams can be so easy and effective.
