Background of the Problem

Every project starts somewhere, and for us, it began with about 100 Jira tickets. While 100 tickets might not seem like a lot compared to projects with thousands, they represent the building blocks of our application. Recognizing early on that a strong organization system was key, our team focused on linking related tickets, bugs, and GitHub pull requests. This approach ensured that even as the project grows, we will always have a clear view of our progress.

How the Issue Was Discovered

When I was assigned to create a summary report of our application’s status, I started by exploring the stories and checking out the linked issues and bugs. It quickly became evident why our team stressed the importance of linking and clear naming conventions. Imagine joining a project where work isn’t connected in a meaningful way—you’d struggle to understand what has been done. Thanks to our early efforts, I could easily trace every piece of the project, making my job much simpler.

The Investigation Process and Insights Gained

As I navigated through the tickets and their connections, I discovered several key practices that are driving our success:

• Early Organization Pays Off: Starting with a clear method of linking tickets has saved us time and minimized confusion.
• Teamwork is Essential: Every team member’s effort in maintaining these links has provided an accurate overview of our work.
• Understanding Naming Conventions: In our project, naming conventions refer to the consistent practice of labeling tickets, commits, and branches in a way that makes their purpose clear. For example, we include the ticket name in every GitHub commit. This simple practice lets everyone immediately understand why a change was made, ensuring transparency and easing code reviews.
• Laying a Solid Foundation: This organized approach isn’t just about today—it sets us up perfectly for the next phase, where we’ll create a new Jira board to manage our growing workload.

Lessons Learned

This experience has taught me that organization is crucial right from the beginning. Even with a modest number of tickets, establishing clear links and consistent naming conventions helps everyone understand the project’s progress. As we move forward, we’ll continue these practices to ensure that as our project expands, our tracking remains effective, transparent, and easy to follow.