Infiniti Co-Founder Pete Williams first saw BugHerd during an investors pitch meeting back in 2011. Pete chose not to invest at the time, but decided to become a user (investing would have been a smart move). It’s been part of their web development platform ever since.Infiniti Telecommunications is a telecommunications company based in Australia. They provide phone systems to small, medium, and large businesses and provide ongoing phone system support as well.Infiniti does not use BugHerd in the same way many other companies do. The plug in is installed even at the wire framing stage, and from that point forward, stakeholders and non-developers can offer input as they watch the site develop.In addition to using BugHerd for new website construction, Infiniti uses the program to track and implement bug fixes and updates as well. Here is how it works.New ProjectsWhen Infiniti is creating a new site, after the basic in-browser wireframe has been created, all the stakeholders are added into the project. This means they can start adding comments and ideas even at this stage.

Due to the unique capabilities of BugHerd, these comments are contextual and even non-developers can point to where they think changes need to be made or they spot issues. As the process continues so does this real-time collaboration.Several teams are included in this process. Everyone from management who offer an executive and administrative perspective to marketing, content, and graphic design teams. This means that the dev teams can point out elements that won’t work with graphics & content that is being created before it becomes an issue, making critical stages of the project run more smoothly.“Being able to be included early in projects means we can help on the direction of a project quickly, saving hours of dev time in those initial steps from wireframe to MVP” – Pete, Infiniti Telecommunication, Co-FounderComments in the content and in context is much more efficient than the typical one long email pointing out issues with little or no context that non-tech management is often famous for. While this is a bit of a running joke in the development world, it has a serious effect on efficiency.

BugHerd serves as a conduit of sorts: a simple way for different departments to coordinate the development of the website while content is being created. The ability to attach files to comments makes changes easy for the development team, saving them hours of searching through old emails for attachments including documents and graphics.This simple way for teams to communicate efficiently is one of the many reasons Infiniti loves to use BugHerd from the start.Bug Fixes, Updates, Changes & AdditionsOnce the website is complete and live, it does not mean there are never problems, and BugHerd offers everyone in the Infiniti marketing team an efficient way to report bugs as well. Instead of everyone sending emails to the dev team, overloading their inbox with bug fixes such as broken links and photos and errors, any team member at Infiniti can point out, in context, a problem they have spotted.

This means bugs identified by any team member are all saved in one place making it easier for the dev team to manager further through the process.“BugHerd helps me be able to work with our content and graphics teams, giving them more context around their work to draft and finalize content and media before passing it over to dev team” – Henry, Infiniti Telecommunication, MarketerThe tagging system in BugHerd makes this process even better: breakpoint tagging is used to indicate if the problem is with a mobile site, desktop, or tablet, allowing the developer to determine where and how to test and fix the issue.

Again, context is important. For bug fixes, a non-developer can effectively point to where the problem is, even if they do not know precisely what is wrong. A broken picture, link, misspelling, or other loading error can be commented on and tagged easily.If content on one section of a page needs to be updated, that is also a simple process. Anyone, from the content creator themselves to the webmaster can leave a comment on that area requesting an update.The file containing the content can be attached to that comment, so the developer can easily cut and paste, with no need to search for files in an email from the commenter. The simple BugHerd feature makes updates of text or graphics much easier on the developer by simply eliminating time consuming steps.Scheduling and PrioritizingUnless a fix is critical, like a section of the website that is completely broken, Infiniti’s head web developer, Brendan, let’s simple fixes build up, so they can be done once a month. The tasks build up in a que and are categorized by what stage they are in.Every task is initially under a Backlog category. Once it is officially assigned, whether Brendan assigns it to himself or a remote developer, it moves into the “To Do” column. From there is moves into the doing column, and finally the done column.Before being archived from the done column, the code or update is checked one more time by Infiniti’s head developer to be sure it is ready to “push” to the live website. Once changes have been uploaded and are working, the task is archived.This serves like a simple project management software. Instead of moving development tasks outside of BugHerd to a program like Asana or Jira, the project is managed entirely within BugHerd’s ticketing system.Ticketing and GroupingInfiniti also uses the program in another powerful way using the simple tagging feature. Infiniti has an internal standard for creating tickets in BugHerd. This is specifically to aid in the agile development process.Infiniti’s head developer applies a tag from each of the below categories to a ticket to help him group and assign tasks through his team for maximum efficiency. These tags are:

• Ticket Type: Copy, Dev,
• Section Of The Site: Blog, Sales Page
• Break Point: Mobile, Tablet, Desktop
• Effort: Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Needs Further Investigation

The BugHerd dashboard enables the head developer or webmaster to get an overall view of tasks and move them through the process of assignment to sign off when they are finally archived.Working with Remote Developers and Content TeamsInfiniti has an in-house web development team, and the head web developer also works with remote developers often. BugHerd makes communication with these developers a simple process, from the assignment of tasks through the dashboard to the comments and tags that let them know exactly what needs to be done.For remote or even onsite content development teams, the webmaster can easily make assignments through BugHerd as well. A comment tells the content creator what piece of content needs to be revised and how. For instance, in the illustration below, the heart in the middle section is highlighted.

Then the webmaster leaves a simple comment: “We should change this image.”

Once the content has been re-written or in this case a new graphic has been created, the new files are added to the task. Before being handed off to the web development team, the content can be evaluated by the webmaster, management, marketing, or sales depending on which department needs to approve it before it is made live.Parting WordsFor complex web & SaaS development, programs like Jira are still essential. However, BugHerd serves as a proxy for these programs to aid the non-developers involved in the process. Essentially, the nature of BugHerd makes it perfect for websites that are not as complicated. It is especially helpful in maintaining and updating existing sites.“BugHerd is a great proxy for a full project management system, where all project stakeholders can learn the system in minutes and can contribute in real time to speed up all our development efforts” – Brendan, Infiniti Telecommunication, Lead Developer

• BugHerd is easy for non-developers to pick up and learn, so the web development team can easily work with other stakeholders like marketing, content teams, and graphic designers in a more agile way.
• BugHerd means the web development team does not have to gather ideas or updates from emails or instant messages, then import them into a project management system, and finally assign them later. This removes the Chinese whispers effect, and reduces the administration burden of writing and re-writing tasks.
• BugHerd gives everyone the ability to attach files like graphics and documents to tickets, so when the development team is ready to act on an item, all the files are present and in context. Not only is there no need for them to go searching back through emails trying to find documents and graphics, but developers do not have to struggle to determine where, exactly these belong on the site.

Infiniti Telecommunications uses BugHerd in several innovative ways to help their team with agile development, communication, and project management. Without the help of BugHerd, the development process would be less efficient and therefore costlier.From the earliest stages of development to mundane tasks like fixing bugs, replacing graphics, or updating content, BugHerd is an invaluable tool, and a must for every web development team.