A method requires a mandatory comment in a software productivity tool, comprising: opening in the software productivity tool a document stored in a non-volatile hardware data storage device; receiving a definition of an actionable data item of the document; receiving a request for an action associated with the item; determining if the action triggers a predefined comment rule; if triggered, then: requiring a mandatory comment; storing the accepted entered comment in the non-volatile hardware data storage device; and performing the requested action. A method specifies a mandatory comment, comprising: receiving a definition of an actionable data item of the document; receiving a definition of a comment rule related to an action on the item; receiving a definition of a comment criteria associated with the comment rule; and storing the actionable data item, the triggering criteria, and the comment criteria in a non-volatile storage device of a hardware device.