Issue Workflow Details¶

Description:

• A new issue is created with the status New. Usually a New issue is left unassigned or assigned to the Project Manager. If someone takes responsibility for the issue, they can assign themselves and change the status. This helps to avoid duplication of effort.
• When a New issue needs investigation then the Project Manager can assign someone and change the status to Investigation. For most bugs, the initial investigation would usually include verifying that the problem is reproducible. An assessment as to the level of work needed to address the problem may also be needed. The Investigation phase may bounce between different assignees. At any time, the comments to the issue should clearly identify what the open questions are and the Assignee should indicate who is responsible for getting the answers and making progress. When all the questions have been answered, the Assignee should be changed to the Project Manager with a state of On Hold.
• At the end of the investigation, the Project Manager needs to decide if the issue will be addressed right away (In Progress) or if further activity will be delayed (On Hold).
  • For an issue being worked on right away, the status would be changed to In Progress and the Assignee would be changed to the appropriate party.
  • If further activity is being delayed, the status would be changed to On Hold and the issue comments should indicate what the trigger is that will cause further activity to be continued. If the issue is assigned to anyone at this point, the assignee should realize that no action is expected since the state is On Hold.
• While the development is In Progress, updates from the developer can be entered to let everyone else know the current status. (comments to describe what has been done and %done)
• When the development is complete, the developer should change the status to Integration and change the assignee to the designated integrator for the particular project or version which the issue is being included in.
• When the integrated package has been created and is available to the customer, the state of the issue should be changed to Resolved and assigned to the verifier. The verifier is expected to do one of two things:
  • Verify that the development did indeed resolve the issue. If this is the case, the status can be changed to Closed.
  • Determine the issue has not been resolved. If this is the case, comments indicating the reasons should be added. The status of the issue should be changed to Feedback and the Assignee should be the Project Manager. The Project Manager will determine if more investigation is needed or assign someone to do additional development.
• For some issues, it will be decided that the described issue is not really an issue. In cases like this, the state should be changed to Rejected and the Assignee should be changed to the verifier. Reasons as to why the issue is being rejected should be added in the comments. The verifier is expected to do one of two things:
  • The verifier can agree that the issue can be rejected. If this is the case, the status can be changed to Closed-Rejected.
  • The verifier can decide that rejecting the issue is not appropriate. If this is the case, comments indicating the reasons for this should be added, the status changed to Feedback and the Assignee should be the Project Manager. The Project Manager will determine if more investigation is needed or assign someone to do additional development.

Expectations:

• Rejected and Resolved issues should be assigned to a designated verifier. The designated verifier might vary from issue to issue. The actual verifier needs to be agreed to by the Project Manager and the customer.
• Investigation issues should have a clearly stated question and be assigned to the person expected to get the answer.
  • All Investigation issues should be assigned to someone.
• Feedback issues should have clearly stated reasons why a fix is not adequate or why an issue cannot be rejected.
• In Progress and Integration issues should be assigned to someone.
  • The Assignee is expected to be actively working on the issue.
• Priority reflects customer priority.
  • Urgent, Immediate, and High should indeed be high-priority and issues should be actively being worked on.