Automation rule to prevents multiple in progress tasks from the same user

[Adriana Marquez]

Hello, 

I need help creating an automation rule that blocks a user to move a second issue to "in progress", if they already have one issue in progress.

[Aswin Raj D · Accepted solution]

Dear @Adriana Marquez ,

You can create an automation for this using Advanced compare condition. Please follow the below steps, Create a New Rule.

• . Select the trigger Issue transitioned.
• Specify the transition to be from any status to "In Progress".
• Click on New condition and select Advanced compare condition.
• In the first field, use the JQL query to find issues assigned to the same assignee and are in the "In Progress" status. It will look something like this: assignee = currentUser() AND status = "In Progress" AND issuekey != "{{issue.key}}". This JQL checks for other issues in "In Progress" status for the current user, excluding the current issue.
• For comparison, choose is greater than.
• In the value field, type 0. This means if there is any issue (more than 0) already in progress for the user, the condition will pass.
• Click Save.
• Click on New action and select either Send email, Create comment, or any other notification action available.

I achieved this as below.

JQL: assignee = currentUser() AND status = "In Progress" AND issuekey != "{{issue.key}}"

if this does not work for you then you need to go for scripting using script runner (Listener script). Also, you can add custom script workflow validator as well.

[Adriana Marquez]

Worked well!

Thank you soo much 💥

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Adriana Marquez 

I respectfully suggest you are trying to fix a process / team behavior problem with an automation rule.

Instead consider: why are team members trying to move multiple issues into in-progress, when the team apparently has a working agreement / policy to only work on one item at a time?

Understanding the root cause by discussing it as a team may lead to better solutions than using Jira to send notifications...or to undo the issue transition.  For example, some such causes could be:

• urgent work displaces other items, and so priorities shift
• multiple work streams, not visible to the entire team
• knowledge silos, leading to waiting for help from others
• blocking issues are not managed / resolved in a timely manner
• team members are not challenged, and so are unfocused
• etc.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Adriana Marquez]

Thanks for the concern.

We have it covered. There's no issue in my team. I just wanted to know how to do the automation to learn advanced rules and implement it in case it's needed.