Get a stalled project moving again.
When work waits on someone outside the team, Unblockd turns the blocker into a specific ask, shows how long it has waited, and follows up until it’s answered or you escalate.
Why projects stall
A stalled project rarely has one dramatic problem. It has four small ones, each waiting on a person: an access request, a vendor choice, a review, a budget line. Each looks minor in the standup, and together they push the date.
Nobody owns the waiting, so nobody sees the total, and the first time anyone adds it up is when the deadline has already moved.
How Unblockd handles it
Every wait becomes something specific, with an owner, an age, and a next step.
- Flag it in a tapA teammate marks a task stuck and picks a reason (waiting on the sponsor, waiting on access, needs a decision, vendor delay) that fills in the blocker. Connected tools flag their blocked items too, for your team to confirm.
- Turn it into an askAsk for a decision with options, or for help with exactly what the person needs to do and by when. The sponsor answers with Done, Hand it to someone, Need more info, or Can’t do this, and each answer lands in the thread.
- One list for every waitAsks shows every open and recently answered ask across your projects, with how long each has waited. Nudge, extend the deadline, or escalate from the row.
- Follow-ups and escalationReminders go out on their own. If an admin turns it on, an ask still unanswered 1, 2, 3, or 5 days after the last reminder passes to the next person who can decide, and chat channels hear about asks waiting 3, 5, 7, or 10 days.
- Risks before they blockLog risks as you see them, or let a connected assistant suggest them from project evidence. You decide which ones matter and what to do next.
Where it fits
A good fit
- Projects that wait on sponsors, executives, clients, vendors, or other teams.
- Leads who want to see total waiting time instead of finding out at the deadline.
Use something else for
- Dependencies between engineers inside one team. Your task tool’s blocked status covers those, and Unblockd reads it when connected.
Questions
- What counts as a blocker?
- Anything the team can’t clear on its own: a decision, an approval, access, a vendor, or help from someone senior.
- Will the sponsor see every blocker?
- No. Blockers stay with your team until someone shares them. Blockers flagged by a connected tool start team-only too.
- What if the sponsor can’t do what we asked?
- They choose Can’t do this and say why, and it lands in the thread so you can find another way, or they hand it to someone by name.
- Can asks escalate on their own?
- Only if a workspace admin turns that on. An unanswered ask then passes once to the next decider: the main contact, then approvers in the order added, never viewers.