Is there a way to capture the reason why the issue was blocked (flagged)?

Question

At the moment, we can only flag issues and rely on comments to indicate the reason. However, we'd like to quantify these blockers using a standardized set of reasons. I know it is not possible as a default feature, but is there any other way to achieve that?

Btw, moving the issue to a "Blocked" status and showing a generic "block reason" screen doesn’t work for us, as we don’t want to lose visibility of the workflow.

unknown · Answer

Dear @Pedro Webster

In addition/alternative to @John Funk solution on custom drop down fields, I would take the liberty to suggest a workaround with the marketplace app I work for. You may want to consider creating a checklist where you could use each checklist item as a standardized set of blocker reasons inside the issue. This way, users can easily select the reasons that apply.

One advantage of Didit is that you can enable mandatory explanations:

When someone marks a specific blocker as “No,” they are required to provide a reason.

They can also attach images or screenshots as supporting evidence if needed.

Once the checklist is completed, you can configure the issue to transition automatically to the status you choose ( in your case, blocked).

For reference, I’ve attached an image below showing how this works in practice.

John Funk · Answer

You can create a custom field with drop downs, where they need to identify the reason for marking it flagged. Can you force them to fill it out? Well sort of. You can add a transition that loops back to the same status. On that transition, you can add a screen with the custom field. Also, on that transition you can add a validator at the field must be populated. The user would add a flag by executing the self looping transition

Pedro Webster · Answer

This custom field approach only seems to work if the team uses the "Blocked" status. In that case, you can simply use transitions to make things work, but is not our reality since we don't use "blocked" status.

Using comments is fine, but it doesn’t meet our main goal, which is to quantify these blockers by reason. Open-ended comments make that impossible.