Begin Here

We're not sure why, but for some reason, bug and issue tracking tools have gotten out of hand. They're complex, expensive and take entirely too much time and energy away from what really matters - writing great code and producing exceptional products.

We've been through the process. We've used wikis, spreadsheets, specialized software. We've gutted through the setup, made sure everyone new what to do and then sat back and watched it all fall apart. It must be the spreadsheet - lets's make it better. Nope. The issue tracker isn't set up for us. Can we customize it? Yep. Does it help? Nope.

We've watched as our teams have almost universally gone in one of two directions. Either they stopped tracking bugs, resorting to email and chaotic out of sync spreadsheets, or they were forced to use "the system", resulting in wasted time and effort.

Finally, we gave up. We wrote some software for ourselves that minimizes the headache. It's simple and too the point. It doesn't enforce rules or try to make you think a certain way. It just tracks bugs. Simple bug tracking - what a concept. But software is not the answer. Surely everyone who ever wrote a bug or issue tracker thought their software was somehow better than all the others. No, there's more to it than that. Simplifying the process of software development is a journey, not a destination. It just happens that out first step was to radically downsize our bug tracking efforts.

This site is our manifesto of sorts. A place where we can collect our thoughts on what simple bug tracking means - what simple software development means. What is necessary? What is nice to have? What is counter productive?

Happy bug smashing,

The TrackJumper Team

Things We Believe

  • Anything that keeps your users from solving their problems is a problem.
  • Bugs are problems. So are defects, performance issues, poor usability, missing features and ugly design.
  • All problems are essentially the same - they can be observed, described, and fixed.
  • Tracking problems is inherently simple. It's just a list of problem descriptions.
  • Fix the right problem. If your team isn't functioning well, software won't help.
  • Bug tracking software should not require training.
  • Tracking bugs should result in a net time savings.
  • Data is useful, but knowing what to do right now is critical.
  • Too much data is not useful. In practice, it's harmful.
  • Bug severity is not an actionable piece of information.
  • Deleting stuff is good. Not everything needs to be archived.
  • Convention beats configuration.
  • Conventions are only conventions if everyone knows about them.
  • Discussion is better off-line than online.
  • Creativity does not live in a checklist.
  • Software should encourage common sense problem solving and person-to-person communication.

If any of this resonates with you, please give TrackJumper a try. We know you'll like it.