Information that should be in a bug tracking system ends up disappearing somewhere. What to do?
I am a developer with a small company that is about to take on a large project.
We are currently using email to track issues and I intend to create a bug / issue tracking system
(maybe genius jig, mantis or trac - we want something web based, php, open source, mysql)
We have control source (SVN)
In the past, I've found that the biggest problem with bug trackers is that information is shared between trackers and emails.
What are you doing to make sure the email information is available to people viewing bugs in your bug tracking software?
What do you do to ensure that people working on bugs can receive information in the emails they send and receive in the bug tracking system?
In my experiment, if it's not easy, people avoid it.
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I am not using any of the systems you would consider (php ;-), but on the systems I use, emails sent in response to any email from the bug tracker go to the error tracker itself ( reply-to
) if the responder does not make a very very explicit action to stop it; Bug tracking makes the email message another bug comment, stores attachments as "uploaded files", and so on. If none of the trackers you are considering has such a feature, then I suggest you expand your considerations for trackers that have it (no matter what language they are implemented in is less important than their functionality).
email is too important, too useful, too common; systems such as issue trackers MUST be able to interact with email (inbound and outbound) to be considered useful.
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One of my favorite jokes looks like this:
Patient: "Doc, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Don't do it."
When you switch to bug tracking software, let everyone know that you are no longer tracking bugs by email, and that any emails they send regarding bugs will be completely ignored. Follow this, ignoring error messages.
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If you are using a web system with a public site for clients, you should completely eliminate the use of letters. In fact, if you have a good web system, it should be easier for clients to use it rather than send emails, so there should be no resistance to change.
I have implemented Gemini successfully in several stores. It's easy to use, highly efficient and free for up to 5 users. But since you're already using SVN, Trac seems like a natural choice.
Also see:
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Attach emails to issues in your bug tracking software.
Problems sometimes arise due to e-mail messages. Thus, save the emails in a suitable format (like HTML or text) and add as an attachment to a new issue.
For clarity and convenience, it may be helpful to copy and paste the relevant errors in e-mail messages.
Obviously this also works if the problem already exists and emails follow. Rather than threaten to ignore future emails (except as a last resort!), I suggest copying the text into the issue, then responding to the email, saying what you did, and asking that any future comments be added to the issue directly ...
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