Bug tracking for legacy physics models

Question

I am the lone software engineer on a team that develops physics models (approx 30,000 lines of code). The rest of the team consists of scientists who have been developing their codebases for about 20 years. My workflow goes something like this:

1. Scientist requests a new feature
2. I implement it
3. Via testing & validation, I find a serious problem somewhere deep within the numerics
4. Scientist requests a new feature (without fixing the problems identified in #3)

Our problem seems to be that bug tracking is done via e-mail and post-it notes. Busy work schedules let bugs slip under the radar for months and months. I think some formalized bug tracker (i.e. Trac, Redmine, Jira, FogBugz, etc.) could help us. The following features are essential:

• Incredibly easy to use
• Integrate with version control software (we use Subversion)

There are plenty of posts that suggest which bugtracker is "best"... but I suppose that I am more interested in:

• What's your experience in whether or not the overhead of a bugtracker is worth it
• How do you convince a physicist (who follows poor software engineering "best practices" from the 70's) that a bug tracker is worth the extra effor?
• I get the feeling that if I install a bug tracker, I'll be the sole user. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it still useful? It seems like the team would need a certain amount of "buy-in" to make a bug tracker worth the additional overhead.

Answer 1

Bug trackers are definitely worth it, in part because they formalize the work-flow required to implement new features and fix bugs. You always have a central place for your work load ("My bugs", "My tasks", etc). Pretty much every environment that I've worked at in the last few years has had a bugtracker of some sort so I'm not sure what to recommend in terms of buy in. Do you have more than one scientist coming to you for feature requests/bug fixes? If so, then perhaps you could use the bug tracker as a conflict resolution system of sorts. Do you have a boss/manager? Then having a bug tracking system would provide a lot of insight for your boss.

In general, as a software developer, bug trackers have been very useful. My suggestion would be to think of ways that a bugtracker would enhance your & your coworker's life. Maybe do a quick demo.

HTH.

Answer 2

In my experience, the overhead of a bugtracker is noticeable but definitely worth it! The catch is that if you decide to use a bug tracker, it can only succeed if everyone uses it. Being the sole user of such a system is not quite as useful.

Having said that, even if I am the sole user (which tends to happen a lot), I still install the bugtracker (typically trac). If you use it religiously (enter every thing that comes in through different means as a bug and ALWAYS refer to bug# in your replies), the team generally tends to pick it up over time.

Enter milestones (or whatever your tracker of choice calls them) and link bugs to them. Whenever someone asks what the progress of something is, call up the milestone report or equivalent and SHOW THEM. This helps convert people from thinking of the bug tracker as a nuisance to realizing that it can be a source of invaluable information.

Answer 3

I suggest taking a look at Strategy 2 in this Joel On Software article. He basically argues that if your company doesn't use bug tracking software, you should just start using it for yourself, and demonstrate how it helps get things done. Also ask other people to use it to submit bugs so they see how easy it is to use.

Answer 4

Even if you're the sole user (it happened to me once), it's worth it. You can start saying things like, "Bug 1002 is blocking. Who can help me with that so we can move on to this and that feature."

Answer 5

We found redmine to be a better than trac simply because it is easier to use. It does lack some of the features found in some of the other systems, but this also means there is less stuff for non-programmers to have a problem with. It's also very nice because it allows someone other than the programmers to get a feel for the current state of the system. If there is a large number of critical unclosed bugs it is easier to make people understand that their requested feature will have to wait a little.

Answer 6

This is a similar question.

What's the Most Effective Workflow Between People Who Develop Algorithsm and Developers?

It does NOT speak to which bugtracker is best, but it does speak to how to convince the physicists to buy-in.

Answer 7

Using subversion? Here's a /. post that is helpful:
Best Integrated Issue-Tracker For Subversion?

An in general, here's a Comparison of Issue Tracking Systems.