Preventing one issue from moving from one status to another if a blocked item is not moved

Question

Issue RTT-1914 is in QA and ready to move to UAT, but cannot be because

Issue RTT-1977 is not done yet, it is still a work in progress.

I made RTT-1914 blocked by RTT-1977, assuming this would stop it from moving to UAT, but it does not.

What does blocking stop then, the issue from being done, or the issue from being implemented? Is there a way to have two separate issues that cannot move to different statuses unless they both complete that status?

Oliver Siebenmarck {Polymetis Apps} · Answer

Hi Bryan,

As Mohammed rightly pointed out, you will need to add a condition to your workflow. More specifically, you will need a custom condition as Jira does not offer this specific use case out of the box. While there is at least one other app out there, in my biased opinion Cloud Workflows is the easiest and most flexible in this regard since you can use any Jira Expression to create a condition.

For example, to check if there is any linked issue that blocks the current issue (i.e. your use case), you would use the following Jira Expression in a Condition:

issue.links.filter(
l => l.type.name == "Blocks" && 
l.inwardIssue != null && 
l.inwardIssue.status.name != "Done").length == 0

It counts for incoming issue links of the type 'Blocks' that are not in the status 'Done'. Unless that number is zero, the transition will be blocked.

Full disclosure: I work for Jodocus, the Vendor who created Cloud Workflows. Let me know if you need any help getting started, I'd be happy to help!

Bryan_Schmiedeler · Answer

Thank you very much for your reply.

M Amine · Answer

If you have 'only' linked the two issues with the link 'blocked by' (or 'is blocking') there will be no blocking. The link acts as a 'link' only.

If you want to block issue RTT-1914 from being moving to UAT until issue RTT1-1977 is in QA you have to add a condition in your workflow.

Jira Cloud offers a set of bundled conditions but you, probably, will need a marketplace app in order to achieve an advanced condition.