Ignore complaints from people who habitually complain. If a problem is real, you’ll hear about it from people who don’t.
— Paul Graham (@paulg) November 20, 2014
Note: this does not extend to bug reports. People who habitually submit bug reports are usually right.
— Paul Graham (@paulg) November 20, 2014
I love bug reports. They imply that:
- someone is using the product
- that person is engaged enough to notice when it is not working properly
- that person wants it to work bad enough to go through the hassle of filing a bug report
Bug reports are oxygen. They provide an extremely efficient way to improve a product, easily enabling a startup to outpace larger companies that ignore their users complaints. Startups can also implement rapid and continuous releases to address bug reports immediately.
Avid users often find bugs in places that are extremely tough to test for. Those bug reports are so wonderful in helping to better a product.
Startups should not forego a hardcore testing framework in favor of outsourcing bug finding to users. Rather, startups should have a wonderful testing framework with the understanding that a product is never bug-free and that bug reports are a welcome part of a startup’s existence.
Some of my favorite days at ArrayFire have been spent on our product forums answering questions and analyzing issues posted by ArrayFire users.
What are your thoughts on bug reports?
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