Neil Johnson does not use bug tracking software for his team because they take a more agile approach of immediately fixing bugs as they are discovered. Their process emphasizes preventing bugs from being introduced in the first place through practices like test-driven development and pair programming. They are able to prioritize fixing bugs over scheduled work due to the manageable rate of bug discovery and their system's suitability for testing. This talk is not about bug tracking software itself, but rather how continuous process improvement allows the team to inspect and adapt their workflow as needed.

1. Why I don’t use bug tracking
software…. Neil Johnson

2. Working environment
• Software as a Service
• Services sold on their reliability and availability
• Industry is still very young, continual innovation is
essential
• Teams are cross functional
• All members responsible for design,
implementation, deployment and maintenance
• Easy access to Product Development/Business

3. Our Righteous Agile Credentials
TDD
Pair Programming
Kanban
Effective Continuous Integration
Continuous Deployment to Staging (almost….)
Big information radiators
Daily stand ups

4. On finding a bug
• Fix it immediately
• Fix it in the near future
• Add it to a list and plan to fix it at some point
• Ignore it

5. So what does this mean?
• We take minor bugs much more seriously
• Forces us to fix bugs as we go
• Place greater emphasis on not introducing
them in the first place
• We work hard on black box testing so that
fixed, unrecorded bugs cannot return

6. Why does this work for us?
• Well specified APIs, no GUIs
• Have good access to those specifying the product
• Have good visibility over bug discovery
• Manageable rate of bug discovery
• Have the freedom to prioritise bugs over
scheduled project work
• Run a system that lends itself to system testing
• Assume most bugs can be fixed in a few days
• Continuity within the team

7. This talk is not about bug tracking
software

8. This talk is about continuous
process improvement

9. Agile and Lean teams continually
inspect and adapt their process. No
aspect of that process should be
considered safe.

10. Get in touch
• neil@fragile.org.uk
• http://fragile.org.uk/2010/04/why-i-dont-use-
bug-tracking-software/
• @neilisfragile