FI-12
Flag Rate Increasing Over Time
Flags
Default severity: medium
ProcessOutputRisk
What it detects
A flag was raised on an issue that has no assignee — an impediment exists with no named owner to resolve it. This combines two critical process gaps: OW-01 (no assignee) and FI-02 (no context). The flag cannot be acted upon because nobody is responsible for the issue and there may be no description of the blocker.
Detection formula
IF issue.flagged = true AND issue.assignee IS NULL THEN CRITICAL — unowned flagged issue: maximum accountability gap Flag for immediate action: assign the issue AND add a blocking description Report: issue, flag_age_days, status, sprint, last_modifier (who set the flag)Examples in practice
- A team shows a flag was raised on an issue that has no assignee during analysis.
- Example signal: A flag was raised on an issue that has no assignee — an impediment exists with no named owner to resolve it.
Suggested response
Close the loop on flags—link blockers, set owners, and clear impediments with traceability.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
A flag was raised on an issue that has no assignee — an impediment exists with no named owner to resolve it. This combines two critical process gaps: OW-01 (no assignee) and FI-02 (no context). The flag cannot be acted upon because nobody is responsible for the issue and there may be no description of the blocker.
Why it matters
When "Flag Rate Increasing Over Time" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Close the loop on flags—link blockers, set owners, and clear impediments with traceability.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Flag Rate Increasing Over Time" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.