Fix Bugs
I’ve long held the opinion that a bug’s life should be short. (Sorry, Flik.) My former manager Holger Hammel here describes the idea of a “Zero Bug Backlog Policy”. In brief, the idea is to either fix a bug at once, or to discard it as “won’t fix”. Holger also lists a range of typical questions and responses. I feel that one - frequent in case of legacy or not-so-well-working software - isn’t prominent enough:
Our system is so buggy that we’ll take considerable time to properly address everything. Should we do that?
Honest answer: heck yes.
Any bug (that’s really a bug) is a debt owed to customers and internal stakeholders. It should be obvious why I mention customers. Internal stakeholders suffer from the bug because if it keeps rearing its ugly little head, it creates a constant distraction for multiple parties. Engineers have to address the immediate effects, distracting them from feature work (which stakeholders are usually interested in). Stakeholders, e.g., in customer service, have to keep the customers calm. Everybody has to make excuses because of that bug. So, rather fix it already.
If there is a bunch of bugs, the distractions pile up. That doesn’t scale. So, again, heck yes, fix them already. It will take some time now but ensure much smoother delivery in the future. Everyone involved should appreciate that.
Tags: work