A quick test for a healthy issue tracking process.

Every product-building team needs a way to plan small units of work. That's why we use issue trackers. But sometimes, our issue tracking process can be more stressful than useful.

We've done some research to come up with a 3-question test to determine if your team's issue tracking process is healthy and effective.

Every time you answer a question with yes, give yourself 1 point and go to the next question. If you answer a question with no, stop there and tally your score. Scored out of 3.

See if you can get through all 3 questions!


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#1: Do issues always make it into the issue tracker?


It's very common for bugs and ideas to be written in notebooks, in a personal task tracker, or recorded as just a simple Slack message.

However, it's impossible to improve your issue tracking process if some issues aren't even getting recorded.

#2: Are team members able to create issues without asking an engineer first?


Team members are often looking for one of three things when they ask before creating an issue: permission to create it, information on how to create it, or help with creating it.

Encouraging everyone to contribute issues and starting with a simpler process can help fix this bottleneck.

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#3: Are engineers able to start work on an issue without talking to the issue creator first?


If the issue doesn't contain enough information to get started on right away, it can slow down engineering.

Too many fields and complicated questions can actually lead to issue creators including fewer details.


How many points did you get?