diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTask.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTask.java
index f0eefd7016e..a715549250e 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTask.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTask.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.monitoring;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceAudience;
@@ -32,6 +33,12 @@ public interface MonitoredTask extends Cloneable {
     ABORTED
   }
 
+  public interface StatusJournalEntry {
+    String getStatus();
+
+    long getTimeStamp();
+  }
+
   long getStartTime();
   String getDescription();
   String getStatus();
@@ -51,6 +58,19 @@ public interface MonitoredTask extends Cloneable {
   void setDescription(String description);
   void setWarnTime(final long t);
 
+  List<StatusJournalEntry> getStatusJournal();
+
+  /**
+   * Enable journal that will store all statuses that have been set along with the time stamps when
+   * they were set.
+   * @param includeCurrentStatus whether to include the current set status in the journal
+   */
+  void enableStatusJournal(boolean includeCurrentStatus);
+
+  void disableStatusJournal();
+
+  String prettyPrintJournal();
+
   /**
    * Explicitly mark this status as able to be cleaned up,
    * even though it might not be complete.
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTaskImpl.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTaskImpl.java
index bedb5e28fc3..0fa638f1a20 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTaskImpl.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/MonitoredTaskImpl.java
@@ -19,10 +19,15 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.monitoring;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceAudience;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
@@ -37,6 +42,9 @@ class MonitoredTaskImpl implements MonitoredTask {
   
   protected volatile State state = State.RUNNING;
 
+  private boolean journalEnabled = false;
+  private List<StatusJournalEntry> journal;
+
   private static final ObjectMapper MAPPER = new ObjectMapper();
 
   public MonitoredTaskImpl() {
@@ -46,6 +54,35 @@ class MonitoredTaskImpl implements MonitoredTask {
     warnTime = startTime;
   }
 
+  private static class StatusJournalEntryImpl implements StatusJournalEntry {
+    private long statusTime;
+    private String status;
+
+    public StatusJournalEntryImpl(String status, long statusTime) {
+      this.status = status;
+      this.statusTime = statusTime;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String getStatus() {
+      return status;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long getTimeStamp() {
+      return statusTime;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+      StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+      sb.append(status);
+      sb.append(" at ");
+      sb.append(statusTime);
+      return sb.toString();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Override
   public synchronized MonitoredTaskImpl clone() {
     try {
@@ -126,6 +163,9 @@ class MonitoredTaskImpl implements MonitoredTask {
   public void setStatus(String status) {
     this.status = status;
     statusTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
+    if (journalEnabled) {
+      journal.add(new StatusJournalEntryImpl(this.status, statusTime));
+    }
   }
 
   protected void setState(State state) {
@@ -191,4 +231,47 @@ class MonitoredTaskImpl implements MonitoredTask {
     return sb.toString();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the status journal. This implementation of status journal is not thread-safe. Currently
+   * we use this to track various stages of flushes and compactions where we can use this/pretty
+   * print for post task analysis, by which time we are already done changing states (writing to
+   * journal)
+   */
+  @Override
+  public List<StatusJournalEntry> getStatusJournal() {
+    if (journal == null) {
+      return Collections.emptyList();
+    } else {
+      return Collections.unmodifiableList(journal);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Enables journaling of this monitored task, the first invocation will lazily initialize the
+   * journal. The journal implementation itself and this method are not thread safe
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void enableStatusJournal(boolean includeCurrentStatus) {
+    if (journalEnabled && journal != null) {
+      return;
+    }
+    journalEnabled = true;
+    if (journal == null) {
+      journal = new ArrayList<StatusJournalEntry>();
+    }
+    if (includeCurrentStatus) {
+      journal.add(new StatusJournalEntryImpl(status, statusTime));
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void disableStatusJournal() {
+    journalEnabled = false;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public String prettyPrintJournal() {
+    return StringUtils.join("\n\t", getStatusJournal());
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index 02ae7d87b65..ed6275633a7 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -2111,6 +2111,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
       }
 
       status = TaskMonitor.get().createStatus("Compacting " + store + " in " + this);
+      status.enableStatusJournal(false);
       if (this.closed.get()) {
         String msg = "Skipping compaction on " + this + " because closed";
         LOG.debug(msg);
@@ -2159,7 +2160,10 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
       return true;
     } finally {
       if (requestNeedsCancellation) store.cancelRequestedCompaction(compaction);
-      if (status != null) status.cleanup();
+      if (status != null) {
+        LOG.debug("Compaction status journal:\n\t" + status.prettyPrintJournal());
+        status.cleanup();
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -2240,6 +2244,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
       return new FlushResultImpl(FlushResult.Result.CANNOT_FLUSH, msg, false);
     }
     MonitoredTask status = TaskMonitor.get().createStatus("Flushing " + this);
+    status.enableStatusJournal(false);
     status.setStatus("Acquiring readlock on region");
     // block waiting for the lock for flushing cache
     lock.readLock().lock();
@@ -2303,6 +2308,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
       }
     } finally {
       lock.readLock().unlock();
+      LOG.debug("Flush status journal:\n\t" + status.prettyPrintJournal());
       status.cleanup();
     }
   }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/TestTaskMonitor.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/TestTaskMonitor.java
index a2fe42a263b..38c03083889 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/TestTaskMonitor.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/monitoring/TestTaskMonitor.java
@@ -195,5 +195,30 @@ public class TestTaskMonitor {
     assertEquals(3, operationTasks.size());
     tm.shutdown();
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testStatusJournal() {
+    TaskMonitor tm = new TaskMonitor(new Configuration());
+    MonitoredTask task = tm.createStatus("Test task");
+    assertTrue(task.getStatusJournal().isEmpty());
+    task.disableStatusJournal();
+    task.setStatus("status1");
+    // journal should be empty since it is disabled
+    assertTrue(task.getStatusJournal().isEmpty());
+    task.enableStatusJournal(true);
+    // check existing status entered in journal
+    assertEquals("status1", task.getStatusJournal().get(0).getStatus());
+    assertTrue(task.getStatusJournal().get(0).getTimeStamp() > 0);
+    task.disableStatusJournal();
+    task.setStatus("status2");
+    // check status 2 not added since disabled
+    assertEquals(1, task.getStatusJournal().size());
+    task.enableStatusJournal(false);
+    // size should still be 1 since we didn't include current status
+    assertEquals(1, task.getStatusJournal().size());
+    task.setStatus("status3");
+    assertEquals("status3", task.getStatusJournal().get(1).getStatus());
+    tm.shutdown();
+  }
 }