Adding new status tracking (blocker)?

[Tanya Maslach]

Hi everyone!

I'm needing some guidance on how we might add an additional status update tracker:  Blocker or "Blocked".

Is that something I can do if I'm on a free JIRA plan?

Thank you everyone.

Tanya

[George Mihailoff]

Using a dedicated status for blockers is a common solution, however, not the best practice.

Why? Because it is not part of your normal workflow. You want to quickly see where items are blocked. A dedicated status/column hides this information, you see the blockers but need to dig deeper to understand where they were blocked.

Issue Flags are a better option, easy to add/remove, they add a visual signal to the card.

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-articles/Why-flagging-Jira-issues-is-so-cool/ba-p/1872469

On top of that, with our app, you can analyze/cluster blockers to spot common patterns and better manage delivery risks.

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1218809/quantify

[Tanya Maslach]

This reply was accidentally placed in the wrong place....

Ugh.

[John Funk]

Hi Tanya,

What type of Project have you created? 

Adding a status can be as easy as adding a column on a board in Team-managed projects or Jira Core/Business Projects. 

[Tanya Maslach]

Hi John

I'm not sure how to answer your question, so let me explain:

We have issues, in Epics, and for each one, we mark off "Done", "In Progress", etc for their status as it's worked on or completed.

In stand up meetings, this progress status may change... and one change could be that it's "blocked".

See screenshot here....   

[John Funk]

Ah, that's helpful - thank you. 

Actually, you can just right click on the card and select Add flag to mark the card as "blocked". That is the function and terminology that we use - we add the flag but we refer to it as being blocked. 

[John Funk]

Hey @Tanya Maslach - Just reviewing my open questions. If this answered your question, can you click the Accept Answer button above to close this one out? Thanks!