Find the Time tracking field

Jira keeps the time on a work item in one place, the Time tracking field. Logline reads it, so this is where every hour in a report starts. It takes a minute to find.

Find the field

1. Open a work item: select its key or its name on a space’s board, backlog or list.

2. Look at the Details panel on the right, under the work item’s title.

3. Find Original estimate and Time tracking in the list of fields.

   

What the numbers mean

• Original estimate: how long someone thought the work would take, set before the work starts. It is optional. Here it is 1d.
• Logged (time spent): the time people have recorded on the work item so far. Here it is 3h, the blue part of the bar.
• Remaining: the time still to go. Jira lowers it by the time you log, and you can set it yourself when you log. Here it is 5h, the grey part of the bar.

The three do not have to add up. A work item can be 2h over its estimate; Logline shows that as “2h over the estimate”.

The formats

Jira reads time as numbers followed by a unit:

• 30m is thirty minutes;
• 2h is two hours;
• 1d 4h is one day and four hours;
• 1w is one week.

How long a day and a week are is a Jira setting, Working hours per day and Working days per week. Jira’s defaults are 8 hours and 5 days, so 1d is 8h and 1w is 40h. Your site may differ: a Jira admin can see it under Time tracking in Jira’s admin settings. Logline’s own Hours format only changes how hours are shown in its reports; see Periods, days and time zones.

If you don’t see it

The work item has no Time tracking row when time tracking is off on your site, or when the field is not on that work item’s screen. Neither is yours to change unless you are a Jira admin:

• A Jira admin opens Jira’s Time tracking settings (replace your-site with your site’s name), checks that time tracking is on and sets the working hours.
• For a company-managed space, a Jira admin adds the Time tracking field to the work item’s screen at Jira’s Screens.
• For a team-managed space, ask a space admin.

Not an admin? Send them the work item and this page.

What you now have

You know where a work item’s time is kept, what the three numbers mean and how to write them. Next: Log time on a work item.