10

We have used Gitlab for 4 years now in our organization, and are growing to the point where we are implementing Agile and trying to follow Epics, Features, User Stories, and Tasks.

We are struggling to find a way to implement this in the Gitlab Free Edition, since there is no mechanism to associate issues with other issues (other than having a "mention" or "reference").

I could create a label called "Epic" and create Epics as issues, just assigning them that label. Does anyone then know of a good way to associate issues to that particular Epic? I can list them out as a bullet point. Even if I do that, I have no nice way to see them on an issue board unless I create a label for that particular epic as well (e.g., "Epic001") and label them all with it.

Thoughts?

I'd love Enterprise Edition, but it's insanely expensive.

Improve this question

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
5

An epic can be considered a group of issues.

Create an issue with your epic name, then create subtasks to this issue.

Go to the main issue to see the list of issues and whether they are finished or not.

If you want to see epic tags in your boards, add a label to the subtasks.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    You also might want to have a look at GanttLab: ganttlab.org for visualising the "epic" roadmap.
    – bk138
    Commented Dec 5, 2019 at 17:03
3

Unfortunately, Epics were introduced in GitLab Ultimate 10.2 and are not a part of the free tier. That said, our team has used the label feature in free rather effectively, much as you've described above.

In congruency with effective labeling, depending on how your work is structured, you can create a list that'll dynamically keep tabs of your labels directly on your board for easy tracking. No need for bullet points or manual tracking. Cards with these labels will dynamically show up on that list on your board.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
1
  • Do you really use names like epic1? I would imagine that since you also don't have the mouse-over text that "real" epics have, you would need something more descriptive?
    – Wildcard
    Commented Jan 24, 2019 at 5:44
1

There is kanbansync.com that you can integrate with your GitLab instance. In its settings you can create a "label prefix" like epic: or story: and it will provide you a Kanban board where you can use these prefixed labels to group your issues. What's even better, you don't have the limitation of staying inside a group, you can select any number of your projects in different groups to show your issues.

KanbanSync also handles the status and priority of the issues in a similar way by utilizing issue labels. The only thing you have to take care of is to use these labels in all of your groups and projects. (Eg. by creating group labels.)

Disclaimer: I'm one of the authors of KanbanSync.

Improve this answer
1
  • Finally, a program-plug post with proper affiliation disclaimer and that (at least appears to, on a skim) actually answers the question. Welcome to pmse.
    – Sarov
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 14:14

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.