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Best Practices for Managing Bugs

Learn how to effectively manage bugs in Shortcut.

  1. Epics Backlog for Bugs
  2. Bug Management Tips & Tricks

Step 2 - Bug Management Tips & Tricks

Learn tips & tricks for creating an effective bug process.

Overview

Now that you have your Backlog Epics set up here are some additional pointers from the Shortcut team for creating a well run bug process.

Slack Integration

The Shortcut Slack integration is a great way to save time and since your other tools likely integrate with Slack as well this is a great way to streamline your process. First, set up your integration with Slack and your support tool such as Zendesk. This will pull your bugs directly into Slack, which is great for increasing visibility across the organization. We recommend creating a Slack channel called Report a Bug or Bugs, where bugs are automatically pulled in from your support tool.

Now, this is where the Slack Shortcut integration comes in. You can use the details in the Slack channel to create a Story in Shortcut right from Slack. Simply highlight the text, right click, and create a Story. Key things to complete here are the Type (Bug), Epic (Backlog), and Team. You can even add Priority and Severity if you have that information. 

When using this strategy it’s helpful to have a person or team that is responsible for monitoring this channel, so there is clear ownership of who will be creating the Stories.

Regularly review and update the bug list

As new bugs are reported and old ones are fixed, be sure to regularly review and update the list to ensure that it accurately reflects the current status of the software. Keeping this list updated adds a little work but ensures the list is a trusted place to pull from and will result in more bugs getting fixed and your software performing better!

Commit to Bug fixes

As we all know bug lists can grow and become overwhelming quickly. To help prevent this it’s recommended to have each Team commit to pulling in some number or points worth of Bugs each iteration to keep the list from growing. This way it doesn’t become too unruly and the work to fix issues is built into the organization-wide process. Alternatively, the team can choose an Iteration every quarter as a “Bug Smash” iteration and solely focus on reducing that bug list.

Define clear roles and responsibilities for Bug management

Sometimes the key to success is just knowing who should do what and when. Creating a Roles Doc that defines who is responsible for which steps of Bug management is a great way to clean up your process. Knowing what the Product, Engineering, Design, and Support responsibilities are will make your bug process more efficient.