I see a field in JIRA instance for "Blocked Reason". How is this used and/or populated?

[steve dudek]

in trying to created dashboards in JIRA, I want to show issues that are "Blocked" and the reason for the blocking.  I found a field referenced as "Blocked Reason", but can figure out how it is populated.  Help?

I am also open to other ways to show Blocked Issues, and attach a reason (details) to be displayed in a JIRA Dashboard.  Any thoughts? 

[Mikael Sandberg]

Hi @steve dudek,

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

Blocked reason is not a system field so someone created that as a custom field. My guess is that this field is on a transition screen when you move an issue to that status. 

[Mike Rathwell]

What @Mikael Sandberg said...

I have often used a similar field that is on a transition screen and required when transitioning to a blocked status. That way you don't end up with issues in blocked status and no clue why they are. I also typically add the link issues fields to that transition if it is possible another issue blocks it. 

On transition away from blocked status, I typically clear the field.