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Comment on Ask HN: How do I get my PM to stop using Excel to track bugs?

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Negotiation skills. Let’s start off with this: Why do you hate it?

Mainly due to his implementation. He essentially uses it as a enhanced checklist. The specific pain points on my end are mainly focused around needed data on my end. It would be nice to have historical discussion of the issues, more room for repro steps, and don't even get me started on screenshot storage.

I think what I need to do is recognize that the spreadsheet is not for me and just a checklist for the PM. I need to use whatever system I see fit on my end and update the appropriate column in the spreadsheet when necessary.

Put the pain on the decision maker.

If you need repro steps or the discussion, then each time they are missing from the spreadsheet, ask the PM to find them for you.

Either the PM changes to another system, or they figure out how to handle your needs in their current system.

Ha ha I was going to say those exact words - I almost thought this was my comment that I forgot I wrote.

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