Since issues often represent a single unit of work that can be worked on, it is logical for users to log the time they have spent working on it. You can specify an estimated effort required to complete an issue, and JIRA will be able to help you track the progress.
JIRA displays the time tracking information of an issue in the Time Tracking panel on the right-hand side, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Estimated: This represents the original estimated effort required to complete the issue, for example, the estimated time required to fix a bug by a developer.
- Remaining: This represents the remaining time for the issue to be completed. It is calculated automatically by JIRA based on the original estimate and total time logged by users. However, the user logging work on the issue, as described in the following section, can also override this value.
- Logged: This represents the total time spent on the issue so far.
Original estimate represents the anticipated time required to complete the work represented by the issue. It is shown as the blue bar under the Time Tracking section.
In order for you to specify an original estimate value, you need to make sure that the Time Tracking field is added to the issue's create and/or edit screen. We will discuss fields and screens in Chapter 5, Field Management, and Chapter 6, Screen Management, respectively.
To specify an original estimate value, provide a value for the Original Estimate field when you are creating or editing an issue.
Logging work in JIRA allows you to specify the amount of time (work) you have spent working on an issue. You can log work against any of the issues, provided you have the permission to do so. We will cover permissions in Chapter 10, Searching, Reporting, and Analysis.
Perform the following steps to log work against an issue:
- Browse to the issue you wish to log work against.
- Select Log Work from the More menu.
- Enter the amount of time you wish to log. Use
w,d,h, andmto specify week, day, hour, and minute, respectively. - Select the date you wish to log your work against.
- Optionally, select how the remaining estimate should be adjusted.
- Add a description to the work you have done.
- Optionally, select who can view the work log entry.
- Click on the Log button.
When you log work on an issue, you have the option to choose how the Remaining Estimate value will be affected. By default, this value will be automatically calculated by subtracting the amount logged from the original estimate. You can, however, choose other options available, such as setting the remaining estimate to a specific value or reducing it by an amount that is different from the amount of work being logged.