Painless Project Management with FogBugz (eBook)

Mike Gunderloy is a software consultant, writer, and trainer. He has written more than 30 books, including bestseller Coder to Developer: Tools and Strategies for Delivering Your Software.

Contents 6
Foreword 9
About the Author 12
About the Technical Reviewer 13
Acknowledgments 14
Introduction 15
Chapter 1 Managing Projects with FogBugz 17
FogBugz from the Mountain Top 17
Understanding the FogBugz Philosophy 18
Surveying FogBugz 18
Getting Down to Business 21
Moving a Bug Through the System 21
Responding to a Customer Inquiry 24
Making Effective Use of FogBugz 26
Bringing FogBugz into Your Company 26
Writing Good Bug Reports 27
Writing Good Feature Requests 29
Keeping It Simple 30
Summary 31
Chapter 2 Managing Cases 32
The Three Categories of Cases 32
Bugs 32
Features 33
Inquiries 33
Where Do Cases Come From? 34
Entering Cases via the Web 34
Entering Cases via E-Mail 35
Entering Cases via Discussion Group 37
Entering Cases via ScoutSubmit 38
Importing Cases 41
The Parts of a Case 41
Title 43
Project and Area 44
Assigned To 44
Category 45
Fix For 45
Priority 45
Due Date and Time 45
Estimate 46
Version and Computer 46
Notes 47
Using Screenshots and Attached Files 49
Taking Screenshots 49
Attaching Files 53
Linking Cases 53
Filtering Cases 55
Selecting a Filter 55
Modifying Filters 57
Saving, Managing, and Sharing Filters 61
Working with Filtered Cases 62
Searching for Cases 62
Using List and Grid Views 63
Being a Good FogBugz Citizen 65
Working with FogBugz As a Tester 65
Working with FogBugz As a Developer 65
Working with FogBugz As a Manager 66
Summary 66
Chapter 3 Making FogBugz Work for You 67
Setting Up Users and Groups 67
Creating Users 67
The Power of FogBugz Administrators 70
Setting Up Projects, Areas, and Releases 71
Creating and Editing Projects 71
Creating and Editing Areas 75
Creating and Editing Releases 75
Setting Up Clients and Departments 78
Setting Up Permissions 81
Isolating Clients with Permissions 82
Isolating Departments with Permissions 83
Assigning Permissions 83
Setting Up Priorities 85
Setting Up Versions and Computers 86
Customizing Your Working Schedule 87
Applying Bulk Actions to Cases 89
Summary 93
Chapter 4 Getting the Big Picture 94
Tracking Estimates 94
Maintaining a Case Estimate 95
Using Estimates to Manage Workload 99
The Art of Estimating 100
Using Due Dates 102
Escalation Reports 104
Managing E-Mail and RSS Notifications 106
Using E-Mail Notifications 106
Using RSS Feeds 107
Resolving Cases 109
Duplicate 110
By Design 111
Fixed 111
Not Reproducible 111
Postponed 111
Won’t Fix 112
Implemented 112
Won’t Implement 112
Already Exists 112
Responded 112
Won’t Respond 113
SPAM 113
Waiting For Info 113
Creating Release Notes 113
Extending FogBugz with Custom Reports 117
Creating an Access Report 117
Creating a Chart in Excel 119
Summary 120
Chapter 5 Communicating with Customers 121
Using E-Mail 121
Managing Internal E-Mail 121
Managing Customer E-Mail 124
Using Discussion Groups 141
Setting Up Discussion Groups 142
Customizing Discussion Group Appearance 145
Starting a New Topic 145
Replying to a Topic 148
Managing Discussion Groups 149
Moderating Effectively 152
Understanding FogBugz Discussion Groups 153
Summary 155
Chapter 6 Working with Source Code Control 156
Understanding Source Code Control Integration 156
Using Integration for Code Reviews 156
Choosing a Source Code Control System 158
Making the Connection 158
Setting Up CVS Integration 159
Setting Up Perforce Integration 161
Setting Up Subversion Integration 163
Setting Up Vault Integration 163
Setting Up Visual SourceSafe Integration 164
Getting from Cases to Code and Vice Versa 166
Summary 170
APPENDIX A Setting Up FogBugz 171
Installing on Windows 171
Installing on Unix 173
Installing on Macintosh 176
Understanding the FogBugz Maintenance Service 178
Customizing FogBugz 179
Adding Licenses 181
APPENDIX B Using BugzScout 182
Installing BugzScout 182
Using BugzScout from Visual Basic 183
Choosing What to Report 186
INDEX 188