Bug tracking

Installed ZShrink on my local Zope server. It's YABTS (Yet Another Bug Tracking System). I had to install the LocalFS product. It seems to work pretty well, though it lacks a severity field, and it reverses priority, making higher numbers = higher priorities. Plus it has too many different priorities.

Here's the right answer for bug tracking systems:

Fields:

• Title
• Category
• Status: open, resolved, closed
• Resolution: fixed, non-repro, duplicate, by design, postponed, won't fix
• Opened by
• Assigned to
• Issue type: bug, feature
• Priority: 0-4 (high to low)
• Severity: 0-4 (high to low)
• Notes: automatically notes status changes and logs all comments
• Related bugs
• Attachments

Work flow:

1. Tester opens bug, sets severity, and assigns to manager.
2. Manager sets priority and assigns to programmer or other.
3. Programmer reviews bug, tries to repro may assign to others for clarification.
4. Eventually programmer sets the bug to resolved. Possible resolutions: fixed, non-repro, by design, postponed, won't fix.
5. Programmer assigns to Tester who opened the bug.
6. Tester reviews resolution and either closes or re-opens the bug.

Comments:

• Only the person who opened the bug should close it.
• The tester sets the initial severity, the manager sets the priority. It's entirely possible to have a very severe bug (Monitor shatters when I hit it with a sledgehammer) that has a very low priority. Conversely, a low severity bug (website displays our old email address) may have a very high priority.
• Programmers should only resolve, comment on, re-open, or re-assign bugs.
• Everyone should be working their bug lists, first fixing high priority, high severity bugs, and only then working on new features.

As a former Microsoftie, this is very similar to how Microsoft's bug-tracking system par-excellance RAID. I would buy Fog Creek's FogBUGZ for $199, but it only runs on a Windows server.

Nothing's perfect.   

Ella had her first T-Ball game yesterday, and had a blast.  She led off the game at the plate, so she got to take some big practice cuts before the festivities began. 

I love T-Ball.  Many of the kids havent' a clue about what's going on, but they're having fun (for the most part).  Then there are serendipidous moments where things come together: a pitcher who can actually stop the ball, a first baseman who can actually catch (and get on the bag).  When that happens, it's magic.