Create Shortcut Subtasks with Separate Owners and States
Shortcut Sub-tasks split a parent Story into tracked work with its own owner, state and estimate. They inherit the parent’s Epic and Team when created inside it.
Enable Sub-tasks through Settings > Features before starting. Use a Story you can edit, and decide which deliverables need independent tracking rather than a simple checklist.
Example: a payment retry Story can contain backend behavior, frontend error copy and QA coverage as subtasks, each owned and estimated separately.
Step-by-step guide
Enable the native feature
Ask a workspace administrator to turn on Sub-tasks in Settings > Features if the section is missing. Do not assume an ordinary checklist provides separately tracked workflow states.
Create the child work
Open the parent Story and create the required Sub-tasks within it. Use deliverable-based titles so backend and QA work can be distinguished without reopening the parent description.
Fill each subtask independently
Click into a Sub-task and add its description, owner, estimate and workflow state. Confirm inherited Epic and Team values fit the work rather than leaving them unchecked.
Attach an existing Story when appropriate
Use Add from… to convert existing tracked work into a Sub-task of the parent. Reuse the original record instead of creating another task for the same deliverable.
Common mistakes
Disabling the feature as cleanup
Turning Sub-tasks off removes the UI feature but existing Sub-tasks remain visible as individual Stories. It does not delete completed work.
Sources and verification
Based on product documentation checked on 2026-11-04. This is a documentation-based guide, not a hands-on benchmark. Features and availability can change.