Manage dependencies on the roadmap

Your team might have one epic that's blocking the progress of another, or two epics that impact one another. The roadmap helps you visualize the dependencies between epics.

Link to other issues

Issue linking is activated by default. If your issue linking is OFF, a Jira admin can enable it. Once it's active, you can link between issues to create dependencies.

To capture dependencies, the roadmap relies on a specific issue link type called Blocks. It is the only link type available on the roadmap. The link type can be renamed to suit your team. If the link type is deleted, the roadmap will create another in its place.

Create dependency links between issues

There are two ways to visualize dependencies on your roadmap.

Directly on your roadmap:

1. Hover over an issues to reveal dots on either side.

2. Drag one of the dots to the issues you want to link. 

When using this method, your roadmap automatically configures the dependency (either blocks or is blocked by) based on the order of issues.

From the issue detail view:

1. Select an issue on the roadmap.

2. Select Link issue.

3. Select either blocks or is blocked by, then select the issue to link.

View details of linked dependencies

Select the dependency line or the link icon on an issue to get a detailed view of its dependencies. If your epics have child issues with dependencies, they’ll show in this window when the epic is collapsed on your roadmap.

If one of your epics is scheduled to start before a dependent epic is due to finish, the dependency link turns red. This signals the potential for delay or risk.

Remove dependencies

To remove a dependency between two epics, select Unlink issue or delete the issue link in the issue detail view.