Issue Tracking

Plus, why we built DingoPM

@tomnewbyau
tomnewby.net

About Me

• Product Manager & Software Developer
• Currently @ RedEye
• Co-founded DingoPM

A bit of background

• Hidden spreadsheets in deathly email chains
• "There's got to be a better way"

Problem

• Multiple projects, multiple stakeholders
• Configuration issues, bugs tracked as issues
• Need to keep everyone informed
• Minimise admin overhead - lean startup!

Current State

• Best case: Google Sheets
• Probable case: Excel + Email
• JIRA for dev tracker
• MS Project for general PM

Stakeholders involved

• Vendor Project Managers
• Clients (PM/Sponsors)
• Technical staff (development)
• Third parties

Stakeholders from various organisations

Anatomy of an issue

• Describe it, methods to replicate
• Reported at
• How severe is it?
• Who's responsible for it now?
• When is it due
• What's the status?

Current Pains

• Admin overhead
• Changes
• Lack of detail
• Development updates
• Multi-project reporting
• Notifications and updates

Admin Overhead

• Managing latest version
• Email threads galore
• Make changes, redistribute
• Too much volume
• Solution: 
  • Write better code, test more
  • Shared doc control (difficult with clients?)

Changes

• Merging changes from two people
• What has changed?
• Context switching costs
• Solution:
  • ​Change control, only PM makes changes
  • Changes/additions requested via email

Lack of detail

• How do we capture screenshots
• Lengthy discussion about issue
• Relapsing issues
• Solution: Doc per issue + doc control

Development updates

• Technical teams - inform and be informed
• How can I find if my project issue has been resolved?
• Solution: 
  • Directly allocate technical people to project
  • Single point of contact to the technical team

Multi-project reporting

• Visibility across critical issues
• Upcoming due dates
• Solution: Regular PM meetings

Notifications/updates

• Email threads work OK for PM/stakeholder
• Difficult for technical stakeholders
• Solution: 
  • Dedicated people assigned to tasks
  • Project standups w/internal stakeholders

Available software solutions

• Project management suites
  • Just needed issue tracking...
• Development issue trackers (JIRA, etc.)
  • Too technical/detailed
  • Complex to configure external access
  • Per-seat licenses

An issue tracker purpose-built for managing project issues collaboratively with your clients.

• Web-based (no email chains)
• Conversations and notifications for each issue
• Simple workflow
• Audit trail

https://dingo.pm

@tomnewbyau

• Easy client access
• Per-project pricing
• Report across multiple projects
• JIRA Integration (beta)