Add section on dealing with bug trackers

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/inboxes.mdwn b/inboxes.mdwn
index ef622aa..c299290 100644
--- a/inboxes.mdwn
+++ b/inboxes.mdwn
@@ -95,6 +95,26 @@ from the inbox. This means you need to have a place to put it, even
 if it is only the trash. We will cover filing systems and other related
 tools later.
 
+Bug trackers: not really inboxes
+--------------------------------
+
+Hackers tend to deal with bug trackers, ticketing systems, and similar
+systems. These are not purely inboxes. They're also sort of project
+lists, and next actions lists. I have found it most efficient to use
+them as places to trawl for inbox material. It's not possible to
+remove items from bug trackers just because you've decided what to
+with them. Instead, I review the list of open bugs, and see if there's
+anything there that's new or that I need to deal with. If there is, I
+add a proxy into my own inbox (or, sometimes, directly as a next action).
+I might have a project in my GTD system for a particular bug.
+
+It's often the case that the total number of open bugs is so large
+it's overwhelming. I have found only one way to deal with that: keep
+dealing with subsets of the bugs that are most important, and try to
+handle bugs at least as fast as they're reported. The rest of the
+bugs may have to languish for a while, but if there's more of them
+than you have time for, that's unavoidable.
+
 Inboxes a la Lars
 -----------------