Why is "Skipped" not available to users in a workflow split decision?

Question
Why is "Skipped" not available to users in a workflow split decision?

Answer
"Skipped" is not an action for the user to select, it is a condition that can occur under certain circumstances and you may want to verify that in a split decision.

For example, when there are alternative approval paths, having the approval from one user (taking one path) would skip the other approval steps (the remaining alternatives). Hence you are able to check if a step is skipped so that you can redirect the workflow based on the skip condition.

The options In Progress, On Hold and Reassigned will keep the workflow in its current stage, that is, these options are not for advancing to the next step. Therefore you will not have the ability to check if any of these options are selected. The workflow proceeds only if the status is changed to Approved, Rejectd, or "Routed to" (only available for tri-state approval). Therefore you can only check for Approved, Rejected, Skipped, and "Routed to" in workflow design.