So, you've got a bug

Someone (maybe you) found a bug in your software. Ugh! Now what?

Maybe you look at it and ask an engineer to pick it up when they can. Now it’s on your mind and theirs. Often, what happens is that the engineer drops what they were working on before and will have to start it again later, effectively from scratch.

Maybe you put it into your ticket system, so that it either takes the place of other planned work or languishes forever in your backlog, a little piece of permanent friction and clutter.

What if you just lived with it?

All software has bugs. What are the chances this one just isn’t a big deal, and that you can accept it and move on?

(Sometimes this is terrible, and you can’t live with it. Don’t ignore something that breaks your whole company! But these are rare, and you’re unlikely to question them.)