Re:Ask HN: Good, lightweight bug tracking system for small t...
by nick-dap on Sunday March 14, 2010 @02:06PM
(#1191014)
I keep bugs and do email/support via FogBugz, but when it gets down to crunch time I always end up back in Pivotal Tracker for my weekly to do. I work alone.
FogBugz email integration is top notch, but the time tracking and staying on target for a release is definitely tuned for a larger team. In "list of cases" view there isn't an immediate visual cue to what you can get done in time for a release. Going into reports you get nice graphs with confidence curves for the finish date of a release. Entirely overkill for a small team; possibly a life saver for a larger one. A side note, I was able to show a non technical person how to use FogBugz to work with email with surprisingly good results. The person found it a very natural transition from plain email and appreciated the case tracking capabilities of FogBugz.
Pivotal feels much more natural to me and always helps me stay on track. I can immediately see what I can get done this week and what I will have to push back or revise. I also find its 3 point system for estimating remarkably accurate. The tool has actually driven me to get things done as well, which is more than I can ask of any tracking system.
So,
FogBugz: a formal bug tracking system with excellent email integration and fine grained estimation and tracking.
Pivotal Tracker: a "to do" tracking system, with coarse estimation and tracking that works better for fast iterations and small teams.
FogBugz email integration is top notch, but the time tracking and staying on target for a release is definitely tuned for a larger team. In "list of cases" view there isn't an immediate visual cue to what you can get done in time for a release. Going into reports you get nice graphs with confidence curves for the finish date of a release. Entirely overkill for a small team; possibly a life saver for a larger one. A side note, I was able to show a non technical person how to use FogBugz to work with email with surprisingly good results. The person found it a very natural transition from plain email and appreciated the case tracking capabilities of FogBugz.
Pivotal feels much more natural to me and always helps me stay on track. I can immediately see what I can get done this week and what I will have to push back or revise. I also find its 3 point system for estimating remarkably accurate. The tool has actually driven me to get things done as well, which is more than I can ask of any tracking system.
So,
FogBugz: a formal bug tracking system with excellent email integration and fine grained estimation and tracking.
Pivotal Tracker: a "to do" tracking system, with coarse estimation and tracking that works better for fast iterations and small teams.