In this article, Oleksandr Artiukh, SDET Team Lead at RingCentral Bulgaria, shares how he brought new life to an outdated bug backlog using nothing but communication and initiative. Through practical steps and human-centered leadership, he turned a forgotten archive into a source of clarity, collaboration, and engineering maturity.

The problem

Every large project has a dark corner no one wants to enter — the old bug backlog. It contains hundreds (sometimes thousands) of issues: unclear, outdated, or simply forgotten. When I hear “The backlog is too big. Nothing can be done” — to me, that sounds like a challenge.

Why keep the backlog in order

Backlog review isn’t just cleaning up. It’s a way to regain control of the product and take a step toward maturity across the engineering organization. It proves that testing is not just about finding bugs — it’s about leadership, empathy, and driving systemic change.

Why bugs get stuck in “unresolved”

Let’s look into the main reasons why bugs pile up in the “Unresolved” status.

  • Mentions get missed, leaving others waiting
  • Assignees don’t share investigation results
  • The bug was logged but never reviewed
  • Decisions made in side-chats hinder progression of ticketsThe bug became irrelevant (e.g. not reproducible, design changed), but stay open
  • It was never linked to an Epic or added to team tracking lists
  • It was assigned to the wrong person

Taking initiative

I’m an SDET Team Lead, so backlog cleanup wasn’t part of my formal duties. I had no authority to “make” people act. So instead, I became the communication engine.

My goal was simple: figure out which bugs still mattered, who owned them, and what to do next. Sometimes all it takes is the right question at the right time to get things moving.

Communication: The ultimate debugger

The biggest breakthrough came when I started expanding my network across teams. If I didn’t know how to solve something, I found someone who did. The more people I connected with, the better my chances were of solving a challenge.Sometimes a single clear answer is enough to close a bug that had been open for years. Another key tool was bug reproduction. Many bugs were no longer reproducible or related to features that no longer existed — or had been completely refactored.

And above all: direct communication. Oftentimes, a quick message worked better than a ticket comment. Don’t hesitate to reach out, even to leadership. Most of the time, they’re happy to help if they see that you’re constructive.

The challenges

The speed of progress wasn’t consistent. As we cleared the simpler bugs, the pace slowed. What remained were complex cases:

  • Integration bugs where it was unclear which product or component was at fault.
  • Bugs that turned out to be unclear requirements and needed design or architecture changes.
  • Bugs with no agreement on resolution (e.g., between PM and Service Engineering).
  • Bugs where it wasn’t clear if the issue was in the test setup or the actual code.

There were psychological difficulties too:

Many simultaneous conversations were draining by the end of the day. Sometimes it was hard to find the right person or information — the assigned person often wasn’t the one who had answers. And occasionally, I faced indifference or being ignored.

I had to think carefully about how to approach each person — their temperament, workload, our relationship — and how to briefly get them up to speed.

During this time, my contact network grew by over 120 people, and in total, I communicated with 250+ people.

Still, all of it felt worth it because I saw real improvements at the department level.

Surprising wins along the way

What impressed me most was the positive feedback. Even those I contacted often were thankful and said I helped them keep track of important issues.

I was also surprised by the speed: in just six weeks, I cleared more than half the backlog.

Along the way, we even improved internal metrics—like Jira filters that had been including unrelated bugs.

What this taught me about leadership

  • Don’t be afraid to reach out to people directly. Most are open to talking
  • Connections are key to making progress. Find people who can help, even if it’s not their official role
  • Someone must own the process, or it stalls
  • Gratitude matters — it fuels motivation and culture
  • Show your investment — reproduce bugs, gather info, and lead by example

Updated Oct 02, 2025