Faster Debugging with Collaborative Troubleshooting Tools

As developers we understand the critical role teamwork and collaboration play in solving complex problems. Often, it’s that second set of eyes that uncovers an additional issue or sheds light on the root cause of a stubborn bug. Effective collaboration becomes a critical factor in determining a team’s success or failure, especially when debugging or troubleshooting problematic issues within complex applications. 

Building on this understanding of the importance of collaboration, these new features are specifically designed to enhance the debugging and troubleshooting collaboration for development teams. Ultimately, these collaboration tools contribute to a more successful and productive development team, better equipped to tackle even the most challenging application issues.

Message Threading 

The Comment and Share button is easily accessible in a few places from within your Lumigo instance. It’s located on the action bar of the Issues, Issue Details View, Transaction View, and System Map pages. 

Once clicked it will slide a “Comments” box open which will automatically start a new thread, if no existing threads are already available. Alternatively it will also let you create additional threads on the same issue. 

Multiple threads being open on an issue can be particularly useful when investigating the root cause of issues, especially when looking to identify a chain of issues that may stem from larger problems in application deployments. 

Tip: Messages can also be deleted by the user that posted the original message, to do this you need to click on the message followed by the 3 dots on the right hand side of the message box to display the delete button. 

Resolving and Reopening Threads

Managing discussions effectively is crucial for keeping organized and focused on debugging and troubleshooting an issue. You can mark a thread as being “Resolved” once the conversation around the issue has ended, this helps keep everything nice and tidy. 

Once resolved the discussion thread will disappear from the comments section however is still available by clicking the comments icon at the very top right of the screen which will display the “My Comments” section. 

Once clicked, it will slide out a panel that displays all currently open comment threads, with a drop down option to filter by message status types. This is also a great place to get caught up on recent debugging developments on issues of choice. 

Resolved threads can be reactivated from this panel simply by filtering by the ‘resolved’ message status. They can be reactivated simply by clicking the resolve tick next to the required thread. 

Screenshot Annotation 

This is where Collaborative Troubleshooting really excels, visual aids can play a vital role in understanding complex issues. This feature allows us to attach annotated screenshots to our comments, providing invaluable context for our team members. Annotating screenshots enables us to convey intricate concepts more accurately, as we can describe the specific details and elements related to the issue at hand. By being able to pinpoint and visually illustrate problem areas or relevant data, we can facilitate clearer communication, ultimately helping our team to better understand and resolve issues. 

To share an annotated screenshot, simply click the image icon, add the annotations, and submit the comment.

Always Remember

In the realm of software development debugging, the adage “Friends don’t let friends debug alone” emphasizes the value of teamwork and collaboration in addressing complex issues. By leveraging the power of multiple perspectives, teams can not only uncover hidden problems more effectively but also devise innovative solutions that a single developer might overlook. 

The importance of collaboration cannot be understated, as it often leads to more efficient problem-solving, improved knowledge sharing, and ultimately, a stronger development team. Remember, friends don’t let friends debug alone—equip everyone in the team with the right tools and encourage collaboration to tackle even the most daunting debugging tasks together. 

Set up a free Lumigo account today and give it a try