Details
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Suggestion
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Resolution: Unresolved
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3
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Description
The various keyboard shortcuts which are made available to us in Jira, are incredibly useful for quick navigation/editing of an open ticket.
However, one is particularly problematic: The "i" shortcut which immediately performs an "assign to me" action.
The issue
All other shortcuts avaialble will result in non-destructive actions - such as navigating between tickets, opening a dialog for further edits, etc. - or otherwise result in an action which must be confirmed before it is committed. However, this one particular shortcut does not: If the user accidentally hits the "i" key when not in a text-entry field, they immediately have the open bug assigned to them - which may not be as desired, and may result in unexpected notifications, as well as being a bit involved to recover from.
In addition, there is already an "Assign" shortcut ("a") which brings up an edit dialog, and the "Assign to me" action is a simple click (or sometimes, tap of the Enter key) away. This means that the general "Assign" shortcut ("a") - versus the "Assign to me" shortcut ("i") - avoids the potential for unexpected actions, is arguably more powerful/flexible, and is only slightly more-involved to perform.
The problems due to such mistaken keypresses are certainly PEBKAC issues - but it seems that there are many opportunities for mistakes to impact users, which could be obviated if this action were to be slightly changed, and made a bit "safer".
It is a very-common occurrence to hear from users that they change something in Jira by mistake because they have typed something which triggers a shortcut. This type of issue should not be so prevalent.
Recommended solution
It would be wonderful if perhaps the repeatedly-problematic "Assign to me" shortcut could be disabled, separate from disabling all other shortcuts. As stated above, its functionality can easily be subsumed by the general "Assign" shortcut.
Else, this particular shortcut should be changed to require a combination of modifier keys to be performed (similar to "Submit a form = Ctrl + Alt + s"). Perhaps "Ctrl + Alt + a", to build upon and retain the mnemonic for "Assign"?
A simple change such as this could result in a much-better user experience, and avoid the potential for undesired mistakes.