Bug tracker in Gmail

It was one simple day that we were testing different bug-tracking (ticketing) systems:

Bug tracker
Mantis bug tracker
OTRS
osTicket

And we didn't really like any, even tough some are very known and widely used.

Why? There's just another password you need to remember and another form you need to get familiar with. And most of all, we don't want to bug our clients.

Now this is extremly important - clients really don't like a new login they need to remember and most of all - when there's bug, they're angry! And they just need a simple way to tell you that! And they're used to email. It's the only system that is so kind that they need only to type, attach and click send.

So Dennis mentioned Gmail in a sentence and it started to blow our minds. Why not? Let's start, create an account and send stuff there. Here's how it looks now (click to enlarge):



What's great about it:

• you can send whatever idea you have anytime from anywhere (hey, we have mobile mail, don't we?)
• we are using special email address for stuff to develop; through filters it is automatically labeled "ToDevelop
• if I want to assign a task to a specific person, I just type ToPerson: anywhere in the message or subject; filter assigns it (labels) to that person
• yes, you can assign to get an email if something is assigned to you; hey, you can even get SMS!
• there is a label called "Urgent" if something is on-fire; It is RED. :-)
  
• there is a ticket "thread" alway avaliable; if you reply, you have it stored, if the customer replies, it is there;
• customers are happy
  Not really. They're happy only if they get an answer quickly with a resolution on the bug. So don't get lazy!
• they just use their email and they're used to it!
• no "file-upload" system, this is email working;
• search through bugs is extremly fast. Did I mention this is Google? :-)
• you can label everything by clients, projects, unreal names, so you have any pre-defined search avaliable;
• there are great API's out there, so future looks bright;
• google-wave will most probably make us even more happy. :-) [update: not]

So, what do you feel about it?

[update, 2 years later]

The only people having problem with this, are programmers. They want forms. And tables. They want Bug tracker. Because they have bugs in a table. Structure.

As a manager, I don't like forms. I like my customers. So we've ended on a dual-system of individual and group emails. Which is being slowly upgraded into natural work in google apps. Customers send emails and emails get solved. If not, they're transformed into google documents to the point when they're solved.

Most of all, we as a team try to solve each problem, no matter where it comes from (email, phone, twitter, whatever).