Bug fixing in Flutter is WORSE than you think
Here’s how you can fix bugs 5x faster and get more done for every release
Bug fixing is a part of our jobs, and it takes a lot of time.
But that’s not my biggest problem with it, the problem I have with bug fixing is HOW the time is spent during the fixing process.
Here’s a breakdown:
Bug fixing in Flutter is 50% reproducing the bug.
40% Checking if the fix worked.
10% writing the code to fix it.
It’s ridiculous how much time is spent not fixing the bug.
In this post, I want to show you why it takes so much time and then tell you about a new product I built, specifically for Flutter developers, that will reduce the bug-fixing time by 90%.
The bug-fixing process
Here’s the reason the bug fix process is so time-consuming:
To fix a bug we need to know what’s broken
To find out what’s broken we need to make it break
To make it break we have to follow the same steps that caused it
To follow the same steps that caused it we need a bunch of data
The data comes in the form of logs, analytics, and error messages
Using the data we try and figure out what happened in the session
Once we know this, we use that information to try and reproduce the bug.
In some cases, we can never produce it. When you eventually reproduce it, 30-60 minutes could have passed. This lets you know how it broke, then comes the time for the fix.
The fix is usually quick, 10-60 minutes depending on the bug. But then, well … now you have to repeat your reproduction steps again.
And not only once, it has to be done 2-4 times to ensure it’s fixed. Then you’re done … unless you have QA, then they have to do it too.
One bug can easily take hours to get fixed and shipped.
The better process
I have an idea that can help us improve this process.
If we could remove reproducing the bug from the process, we would be able to fix bugs in 5x less time than we do now.
What if, when a user experiences an error during a session, the session is captured (scrubbing all sensitive data), as a crash report, with all user interactions along with it.
The difference between this and a crash report is, you can replay the EXACT same session directly from your device. It will replay the HTTP requests and user interactions, which means you reproduce the exact same session 100% with a single click.
That’s exactly what I’ve built with SessionMate. I’m onboarding some teams next week that have been giving me feedback on the product to see how well it works.
As a reader of the newsletter I would like to ask you for a favor. I need your help to determine what’s a fair price to charge for this product. This will be the main product keeping my content free forever.
If you’re a professional Flutter developer looking to 5x your bug-fixing process, help me determine what to charge and you’ll get a discount and 1-on-1 onboarding when we launch, just to say thank you.
Let’s work together
Book a 1-on-1 call with me to take the next steps for your Flutter project.