Unblock Work via Fire Emoji
A Slack discussion reveals an issue is blocking multiple people. React with a fire emoji—Notis reassigns it to your most available team member, freeing up blocked work immediately.
Trigger
Message Reaction Added
Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Action
Assign Issue
Assigns a jira issue to a user, default assignee, or unassigns; supports email/name lookup.
Why this helps
Neurodivergent founders struggle with blockers. A work item stalls because the owner is unavailable, but no one manually reassigns it. Work piles up, team frustration rises, and no one knows whose responsibility it is.
- Unblock work instantly without context-switching to Jira
- Get blocked tasks moving to someone available
- Build a clear record of why reassignments happened
- Reduce team anxiety around dependencies and blockers
- Create accountability for handling blockers quickly
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect Slack and Jira to Notis (one-time setup)
- 2Create an automation with this prompt: 'When someone reacts with a fire emoji, reassign the Jira issue to the team member who most recently mentioned availability in Slack, or rotate through a predefined list of available people.'
- 3Select 'Message Reaction Added' as your trigger and choose the fire emoji
- 4Choose your Notis notification channel for notifications
- 5Test it: react to a message about a blocked issue with a fire emoji and watch Notis reassign it
Questions about this workflow
How does Notis know who's available?
You can set a rotation list in your automation (e.g., 'rotate through Alice, Bob, Carol'), or Notis can look for 'available' status or recent Slack messages.
What if the new assignee doesn't want the work?
Jira will notify them they've been assigned. If it's a problem, set up a lightweight 'refuse work' process, or ensure your rotation makes sense.
Can I use a different emoji for different teams or projects?
Yes. Set up multiple automations: fire for backend, star for frontend, etc. Each emoji can route to a different team's rotation.
Does the previous assignee get notified?
Yes, Jira sends a notification when they're unassigned. This transparency helps build trust in the automation.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link Slack to Jira. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
Slack triggers
Jira actions
New Channel Created Trigger
Triggered when a new channel is created in Slack.
Add Attachment
Uploads and attaches a file to a jira issue.
Channel Message Received
Triggered when a message is posted in a Slack channel (public, private, or multi-party IM). Does NOT match direct messages.
Add Comment
Adds a comment using atlassian document format (adf) for rich text to an existing jira issue.
Direct Message Received
Triggered when a new direct message (DM) is sent to a user in Slack. Catches all DMs across all DM channels.
Add Watcher to Issue
Adds a user to an issue's watcher list by account id.
Message Reaction Added
Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Assign Issue
Assigns a jira issue to a user, default assignee, or unassigns; supports email/name lookup.
Message Reaction Removed
Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message in Slack. Supports optional filtering by channel and emoji name.
Bulk Create Issues
Creates multiple jira issues (up to 50 per call) with full feature support including markdown, assignee resolution, and priority handling.
Reaction Added Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_MESSAGE_REACTION_ADDED` instead. Triggered when a reaction is added to a message in Slack.
Create Issue
Creates a new jira issue (e.g., bug, task, story) in a specified project.
Reaction Removed Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_MESSAGE_REACTION_REMOVED` instead. Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message.
Link Issues
Links two jira issues using a specified link type with optional comment.
New Bot Message Received Trigger
DEPRECATED: use `SLACK_CHANNEL_MESSAGE_RECEIVED` with `is_bot_message=true` instead. Triggered when a new bot message is posted to a Slack channel.
Create Project
Creates a new jira project with required lead, template, and type configuration.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
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When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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