What is Issue Management?

Many modern software developers are interested in a question: “What is issue management?” In this article we will help you answer it properly. The term “issue management” cannot be defined without understanding what an issue is.

What is an issue in project management?

If you are an experienced software developer, you definitely know what an issue is. That is because of the fact that there is no software development project in the world that does not contain issues. An issue is anything in the initial code of the product that can be improved. Bugs or defects are probably the most famous issues. They affect the final product negatively, so it is necessary to avoid them, or to remove them as fast as possible if they occur. However, not all issues are defects. Sometimes the product’s code is just not perfect and the developers know how to make it better. Such situations are also issues. In modern software development they can be handled by using special issue tracking software. The use of such applications is one of the best software development practices. It allows the developers to save time for other tasks because issue trackers automate many processes. Hence, the use of issue tracking tools makes the process of issue management much simpler.

What is issue management?

Issue management is a synonym for issue tracking. It is a complex process that includes several stages. Its goal is to detect all issues in the final product, fix them, and create a corresponding data base. The stages of the issue management process are similar to those of the bug tracking process.

At the first stage the issues should be detected. It is done either by the developers or by the users. The users are usually involved in the process of issue management after the product is released in the market. They can report on the detected issues via issue tracking systems.

The second stage of issue management is the stage of issue reporting. Issue reports are special documents that contain all information on certain issues. Usually they are created automatically by the issue tracking tool. The developer or the user should only write the necessary data into them. It is a very convenient function of issue trackers.

At the third stage of the issue management process the issues are fixed. After that the product is tested once again to make sure it works properly and does not contain any issues anymore.

The fourth stage of issue management is the last. At this stage the issue lists are created. These documents are indispensable for the team because they allow it to avoid similar issues in the future.