Notes: "Triaging Bugs in GNOME"

Introduction
About us: Tobias, Pedro
Motivation
We are here today to help people start triaging.  Best way to learn a project.
Show best practices and common pitfalls.
Identify, discuss and solve current problems.
There are about 5 active triagers, but we get 800 bugs a week, 800 bugs get closed a week, and 7000 bugs are older than two years!

Bug triaging
Description
Basically triage is QA, managing bugs.  Also, it makes users and developers happy.

GNOME methodology
Bugzilla is the bug DB; mature product, old and clunky
there is a mailing list, gnome-bugsquad at gnome.org
#bugs on GIMPnet

How do I triage bugs?
Join the mailing list;
read the triage guide on live.gnome.org
Write comments, ask on IRC or the mailing list
You can't get bug changing rights at the beginning; you have to say on the bugs what should happen and the dev is supposed to do it.  Then when you've done that a few times you should ask on #bugs and get rights.
"Real triagers have more points than they are years old".   (Note: marnanel has 17)

What do you do when you're triaging?
Be nice, friendly, happy
Answer early, often

Method
Adjust metadata; ask for stack trace; analyse it; look for dupes (use SDF); rename bug to include function, filename, location.  Watch out for modules that don't like being triaged.

Jono Bacon: The burnout cycle

"The burnout cycle" was devised by Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North

1. You start feeling like you need to prove yourself.
2. So you work harder (putting more hours in rather than working smarter)
3. So you ignore needs; erratic sleeping, eating disrupted, lack of social interaction
4. panic and conflict: problems are dismissed, feel threatened, panicky and jittery
5. Change values.  Work is the only focus.  Friends and family dismissed
6. Deny problems.  Cynical, intolerant, blaming colleagues and workload and lack of time.
7. Withdrawal; no social life, often resort to drink and drugs and overeating or undereating; serious burnout begins.
8. Odd behaviour.  Changes in behaviour obvious; friends and family concerned.  This is the "Is everything all right?" stage
9. Depersonalise; feel worthless, no confidence, life feels mechanical and emotionless.
10. Inner emptiness: empty, lonely, drink and drugs begin to be a real problem
11. "Epic" depression; feel lost and not sure what to do; exhaustion; future feels bleak and dark
12. Collapse.

Managers: should look out for burnout among their subordinates
Teammates: among their teammates
Workers: involve your manager, enforce work hours, take breaks;
Private life: take time off; love your hobby; socialise.