Do you know which bug tracking software is best for your development environment? Besides the obvious issues of compatibility, do you know what other features are important? Don’t let the sales pitches confuse. Before you purchase bug tracking software, know what your software developers and software testers want and need. After all, they’re the ones who will be using this tool most.
Reliable bug tracking software is itself bug-free and stable. Select a product that has a proven track record of success. If possible, talk with actual users to see whether or not the software is meeting their needs.
You want your bug tracking software to be customizable so that it works the way your development team works. But you don’t want this task to be so difficult that you have to first take a course to learn how to accomplish this. A good interface is simple and straightforward, and at the same time, intuitive.
Select bug tracking software that fits your budget and works on the hardware configuration you already have in place. If it requires additional, costly hardware to operate, keep looking.
As for features, including the ability to prioritize a reported bug helps managers allocate resources more efficiently. It’s important to know additional information about each reported bug, and effective bug tracking software facilitates adding notes. For example, it’s important to reproduce the steps that led to the discovery of the bug, the actions that should have happened when the bug was discovered, the actions that actually did happen, and the version that was used at the time of discrepancy. As the bug works its way from team member to team member, the good software tracks that history and allows additional notes to be appended at any time.
Reliable bug tracking software doubles as a management tool. It produces useful reports including work that has already been assigned to each team member. Such a report helps management reprioritize and reassign work when necessary. Also important is a built-in method for notifying specific team members that new work has been assigned to them. As each team member completes work on the bug, they need the ability to update the status of the bug. The bug itself needs to be reassigned to another individual or marked as closed.
Be sure that the bug tracking software you select allows customization of the steps necessary to close an open bug report. Also make sure the software allows you to designate the person(s) who has the authority to close a bug report.
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