What Is Issue Log?

Issue management is probably the most important thing in every modern software development project. Issues occur constantly. You can do nothing about that because every software developer occasionally makes mistakes. However, all issues should be fixed before the final product is delivered to the customer. That is why it is so important to learn the methods of issue management and its main elements. In this article we will tell you about the issue log. But before doing that it is necessary to find the proper definition for an issue in software development.

Actually, anything that impacts the quality of your final product negatively is an issue. However, this definition is extremely wide. Most software developers subdivide issues in several categories. Bugs or defects formulate the biggest of them. These are the worst issues, because they can ruin the functionality of your software. They are actually errors in the initial code of the product. If they are not detected before the software product is delivered to the customer, the reputation of your company is ruined. But issues are not only bugs. Other types of issues can be detected even after the software is delivered to the final users. Such issues are usually product elements that can be improved. If the company is planning to release next versions of certain product in the market, its developers must fix all issues to avoid them in the updated software.

As you can see, issues are things that can affect the final product negatively. That is why the process of issue management is so important for any software development project.

Now let’s talk about issue log in project management.

What is an issue log?

An issue log is the main document required for the process of issue management. It contains the information about all issues that were fixed and that should be fixed. An issue log is extremely important for every software development project. The process of issue management cannot start if the team does not have an issue log. That is because of the fact that this document is not only a list of issues that were corrected. It is also a prioritized backlog of issues that should be corrected.

Usually the issues are prioritized in the issue backlog in accordance with their impact on the final product. If the issue is a serious defect that can ruin the functionality of software, it is prioritized higher than an issue that requires standard improvement of the initial code.

Issue logs are extremely important for project management. As we have already mentioned, the process of issue tracking cannot begin without an issue log. It means that the developers should pay great attention to the formulation of this document. Luckily, most modern issue tracking tools are able to automate this process. They create items of the issue log as soon as they detect issues. All you have to do is to prioritize them properly.

After the issue log is formulated, you may start the process of issue management. Begin it with the highest prioritized items of the issue log and you will succeed.