Issue Tracking
PV260 Software Quality
Lukas Pitonak
Outline
 Capabilities of modern issue tracking systems
 Relation to software quality and other SDLC tools
 Examples
Gartner Magic Quadrant – SDLC Tools
Completeness of vision
Abilitytoexecute
Leaders in Feb 2015
• Microsoft
• IBM
• Atlassian
•VersionOne
• Rally
Issue Tracking
What is the purpose of issue tracking systems?
What kind of data can issue tracking cover?
Issue Tracking
What is the purpose of issue tracking systems?
 Help get things done
What data does issue tracking system manage?
 What are the basic questions a project plan should cover?
Issue Tracking
What is the purpose of issue tracking systems?
 Help get things done
What data does issue tracking system manage?
PM Perspective IssueTracking
What Projects, Components,
Issues
Who Users (in different roles)
When Calendar,Versions, Dates
How Issue workflow
“What” – Organizational Context and Issues
Issue tracking systems should be flexible and reflect
company’s structure and portfolio.
 Products (Components), Releases (Versions), Projects,
ProjectTeam, Project Roles, …
What is an issue in context of issue tracking?
“What” – Organizational Context and Issues
Issue tracking systems should be flexible and reflect
company’s structure and portfolio.
 Products (Components), Releases (Versions), Projects,
ProjectTeam, Project Roles, …
Issue
 Represents a piece of work to be done.
 Exists in a given project.
 Contains summary, description, reporter, assignee, time
estimate, product version, …
“What” – More flexibility with Isuses
Custom fields examples
 Participants, Definition of Done, Verification Criteria,
Other issue data
 Attachment, screenshots, comments, proxies to entities
from other systems (wiki pages, builds, source code, …)
Issue type examples
 Task, Defect, User Story, Change Request, …
 Risk, Review, Review Finding,Audit,Approval, Bonus
Proposal, …
“Who” and “When”
Who – Users in different roles
 Reporter wants the work to be done and creates an
issue.
 Assignee works on the issue.
 + any custom roles (Tester, Participant, …)
When
 Calendar for every project
 Product versions
“How” – Issue Workflow
 Workflow is a state diagram where transitions are
allowed for users in certain roles.
 Workflow is created for issue type in project.
Open In Progress Completed
In verification Verified Closed
Issue Tracking – Ultimate Integrator
Issue
Tracking
Continuous
Delivery
Code
Reviews
Wiki
Tests
Static
Code
Analysis
Source
Code
Examples – Issue Detail
Establish objectives
and create a plan.
Implement
the plan.
Compare plan
with results.
Identify differences
and ask “Why”.
Adjust process
based On “Check”
results.
Act Plan
DoCheck
Deming Cycle (PDCA)
Revise and adjust
process or
configuration.
Track it.Analyze and
evaluate reports.
Plan your work.
Act Plan
DoCheck
Issue Tracking and the Deming Cycle
Main Takeouts
Flexibility, managed work, possibility to improve
 Tool suites your needs and your way of work.
 You know what is planned to be done, who should do it and
how.
 You also know what was done, who did it and how long did it
take.
 You can compare, analyze and revise how you do things.
Integrate your issue tracking system with other SDLC tools
 Link source code to the requirements, see whether it can
compile, whether it was tested and where was it deployed.
Q & A