How can I show blockers?

[Mark Crosley]

How do I show (on a card) that an issue is a blocker or is blocked? Displaying linked issues isn't helpful, since there are many kinds of links, and the majority aren't blockers.

[james correy]

There are a few ways to do this natively before reaching for an app:

1. JQL can now filter on link type in Jira Cloud: issuelinktype = 'is blocked by'gives you every issue that has a blocker link. Save it as a filter and pin it to a dashboard.
2. The catch: that query only tells you a link EXISTS. It can't show the blocker's current status, and it still matches when the blocking issue was resolved months ago, so the list needs manual pruning...
3. Board card colours or a quick filter on the same JQL help make it visible day to day.

If the manual pruning gets old:

- I built a small Marketplace app for exactly this gap (Blockers for Jira).

- It shows only the "is blocked by" links on each issue with the blocker's live status, drops blockers automatically when they're resolved, and gives a project page of everything currently stuck.

- Free for teams of 10 or under, and it runs entirely on Atlassian infrastructure (nothing leaves your site).

- Full Disclosure: I'm the developer. The JQL above covers the basics free, though.

[Candace Phelps]

We have used the Flag on Stories / Tasks to show when they are blocked. The problem we've run into with this is that it's granualr but doesn't show at a high level project-level blockers.

[Michael Alford]

A plugin that displays dependencies (specifically the "is blocked by" issue links) directly on the Backlog view of the Scrum board is Dependency Risk for JIRA.   I know it doesn't (yet) display anything directly on the card, but does the plugin help with your need to show blockers? 

(Disclaimer:  I am the developer of the Dependency Risk add-on.)

[QuentinB]

A solution is to use a plugin : JQL Tricks Plugin
In your board Configuration -> Card Colors -> Colors based on queries -> Use JQL filter with JQL Tricks Plugin