Send notification when order changes for issue lists

Problem to solve

We have a director that wants to be notified of all changes going on in our GitLab group, so he uses the "Watch" feature (attached) that is available on the group homepage.

Screenshot_from_2019-10-22_16-31-44

One of the things he wants to be notified on is when issues have their order altered in an issue board or resorted the manual issue list. This is because issues of the same priority are sorted on an individual basis. This informs the development team on what issues to pick up next. If the order changes, he wants to be able to see that change and follow up with appropriate staff if that change is surprising. Unfortunately these changes do not trigger a notification, even though the text for "Watch" says "you will receive notifications for any activity." Instead, he has to periodically check to see if anything changed in terms of order since the last time he logged in and hope to observe any discrepancies.

Intended users

Proposal

When another user alters the order of an issue within a list of issues on an issue board or the manual issue list, everyone is notified that is watching for that event (or all events) for the project. This event would also be found under the "custom" watch options (shown below), as it would be considered a new, unique event type.

Screenshot_from_2019-10-22_16-42-48

Permissions and Security

If you have the ability to view the issue, you should have the ability to be notified when its order changes.

Documentation

  • The documentation on sorting within issue boards would need to be updated (Link).
  • The documentation on sorting within issue lists would need to be updated (Link)

Testing

  1. Create a list with two or more issues.
  2. Move one of the issues to a different position in the list.
  3. Verify an event is emitted.
  4. Verify the event gets converted into a notification for all users watching ordering of issues in lists.

What does success look like, and how can we measure that?

Success is the director (or some other manager who cares about issue priority within levels) is notified for all changes in our group that he cares about.

What is the type of buyer?

This is one of many things that we look for when comparing GitLab issues to JIRA. We are currently at the "Premium" tier.