Jake Worth

• debugging

Me: Hey, I’m experiencing an issue with your software. Here’s a detailed bug report.
SaaS CTO: What you’re describing isn’t possible.
Ron Howard-Style Narrator: But it was possible.

〰〰〰

This is a frustrating and wasteful interaction I’ve had a few times in my career. What can we learn? Treat bug reports like gold. When you get one, listen.

For every person who takes the time to fill out your support form, there are many who just gave up on the thing they were trying to do, found some hacky workaround, or possibly even abandoned your product. You might not like how the message was delivered, but you are lucky they spoke up. It costs that person nothing to move on. Listen to them.

When I find a potential bug with a software product, I learned from Steve Klabnik to always open a ticket, even when abandoning the product. We get so much for free in this industry and opening a ticket takes minutes. We’ve all been on the other side, building something and wondering if anybody cares. Or deeply stuck, and so grateful to find a ticket that describes our situation and possibly even provides a path forward.

Bug reports are gold. Make the pro move and listen.

What are your thoughts on bug reports from customers? Let me know!