### Release notes While prioritizing a list of issues in GitLab it's often important to determine the critical path and whether that issue is blocking other issues. With the current issue list, it is impossible to see which issues are blocking other issues. The only way to do so is to open each one and see the [list of blockers](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/2035) below the issue description, which is a very time-consuming task! With the release of 13.7, you can now use the filter for "Blocked" on any issue list and you will see a new list in descending order of number of blockers. ### Problem to solve *This is a follow on to issue https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/2035 which is the MVC for blocking issues support* A user should be able to see which issues are blocking the most issues in order to help determine critical path and priorities. > As a product manager, I would like to see which issues block the most other issues so I can better understand how I should prioritize scheduling issues. > As a development team lead, I want to understand which issues block the most other issues so I can ensure my team correctly prioritizes issues within a release. ### Intended users <!-- Who will use this feature? If known, include any of the following: types of users (e.g. Developer), personas, or specific company roles (e.g. Release Manager). It's okay to write "Unknown" and fill this field in later. Personas are described at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/ --> * [Parker (Product Manager)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#parker-product-manager) * [Delaney (Development Team Lead)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#delaney-development-team-lead) * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Presley (Product Designer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#presley-product-designer) ### Proposal <!-- How are we going to solve the problem? Try to include the user journey! https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/journeys/#user-journey --> https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/217569 adds a count of blocked issues to each issue in the issue list. When this is done we would like to add a sort option to the existing sort by dropdown menu on issue lists for `Blocking`, which would allow user to select that as a sort criteria (seen in [this design](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/34247/designs/sort-blocking_dropdown.png)). ### Permissions and Security <!-- What permissions are required to perform the described actions? Are they consistent with the existing permissions as documented for users, groups, and projects as appropriate? Is the proposed behavior consistent between the UI, API, and other access methods (e.g. email replies)?--> No additional permissions would be required. User's who don't have access to issues (due to confidentiality) would not see them in the issue list, so additional sorting should not change permission needs. There are no additional security concerns. ### Documentation <!-- See the Feature Change Documentation Workflow https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/feature-change-workflow.html Add all known Documentation Requirements here, per https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/feature-change-workflow.html#documentation-requirements If this feature requires changing permissions, this document https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html must be updated accordingly. --> Any [documentation surrounding sorting](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/sorting_issue_lists.html#sorting-and-ordering-issue-lists) would need to be updated to include the new sort option. ### Testing <!-- What risks does this change pose? How might it affect the quality of the product? What additional test coverage or changes to tests will be needed? Will it require cross-browser testing? See the test engineering process for further help: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/test-engineering/ --> Any test cases which deal with issue sorting would need additional test cases for this new sort option. ### What is the type of buyer? <!-- Which leads to: in which enterprise tier should this feature go? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/pricing/#four-tiers --> This would be a ~"GitLab Starter" feature since it would align with the ability to have blocking issues. ### Links / references <!-- triage-serverless v3 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SECTION --> *This page may contain information related to upcoming products, features and functionality. It is important to note that the information presented is for informational purposes only, so please do not rely on the information for purchasing or planning purposes. Just like with all projects, the items mentioned on the page are subject to change or delay, and the development, release, and timing of any products, features, or functionality remain at the sole discretion of GitLab Inc.* <!-- triage-serverless v3 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS SECTION -->