
Man uses GitHub as a bug tracker for his house - martokus
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/01/this-old-house/
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knowtheory
It's worth noting that Francis Irving is not just _any_ man, but an uber-nerd
who founded Scraperwiki (<https://scraperwiki.com/about/> ) was part of the
team that built They Work For You (<http://www.theyworkforyou.com/about/> )
and other egovernment sites.

Then again, perhaps this note is moot. After all, using github issues to track
house repair is probably all the bona fides one needs as an uber-nerd.

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awjr
I do a similar thing with Trello.com, in fact the whole house hold now uses it
(mostly through the mobile app) to manage shopping lists
(supermarket/garden/farmers market), upcoming 'events', House Jobs, House
Projects (which can evolve into their own boards).

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prawks
This is a great example of users of your application doing unintended things.
In this case, productive, positive things.

I also think this speaks volumes about the possibilities that open, or at
least lenient, platforms offer. Rather than being removed for not adhering to
a rule saying that "All project must contain source code", Github allows and
encourages this kind of use.

I hope more companies in the future create products like this and treat their
users similarly.

~~~
k3n
Great point. I cringe when I'm on some site and content gets posted that the
site owners take issue with and remove, when in reality there was actually
nothing _wrong_ with the content -- it just didn't fit the preconceived
notions of what the owners had intended. "This is not how the site is supposed
to be used, therefore this content is bad and must be summarily removed" seems
to be the thinking; it's as if they're scared, but of what I don't know.

And yes, it's very refreshing to see GitHub allow this. Thinking about it
further, ticketing systems could see many more uses in the real world, and it
makes me wonder if this is where we're headed? Whether it be parents keeping
track of their kids' chores, homework, and other activities, or perhaps it's a
neighborhood that uses it to help foster a community-driven cleanup and
improvement system, or maybe even a city taking bug reports for anything and
everything: "Street light out on 5th street", "Leaky hydrant in Centennial
Plaza", or even bug reports about the city's provided websites and services in
general.

~~~
frabcus
I'm the Francis in the original article...

Some years ago, I helped make a bug reporting for cities too like you mention,
it's <http://fixmystreet.com/> \- equivalent in the US is
<http://seeclickfix.com/>

I wonder if subconsciously that was one of the reasons a bug tracker for my
house felt like an obvious idea.

~~~
k3n
Hah, very cool! We need greater adoption. Reporting things to a city entity
(especially technology-related) is often an exercise in futility... with
little-to-no follow-up to be had, unless you happen to get someone who takes
ownership and provides their personal extension so that you can call back and
check on it.

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kristofferR
What would be really fun is if somebody actually developed a bug tracker for
bugs (as in insects) through github! :)

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nathan_long
Other than amusement value, wouldn't any TODO app work better?

~~~
mysterywhiteboy
I can think of two reasons: (1) Because he has others commenting on his issues
and suggesting fixes, and probably more importantly (2) because github is
already part of his workflow.

The main reason I never stick with TODO applications is because I can't get
into the habit of using it. I often think this is why so many persist with
email as a todo list.

~~~
vonmoltke
There is a third reason. If he wanted to, he could store associated files with
his issues. That use case makes more sense with a private repo, but it is
something I plan to do with the repo I just created for my house.

~~~
adeaver
Also, in a case where a piece of equipment needs to be replaced (like a range
hood, or even a coffee maker)one can store digital copies of the user manuals
in the repo and not worry about having to hunt the damn things down when the
power goes out and you have to remember how to reset the clock.

Not that I've _ever_ done that..

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kbob
Been there done that. <https://github.com/kbob/car-stuff/issues>

~~~
frabcus
Love it!

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limpangel
Would he post even a bug like: "Front door lock not working. oops!!! " :)

~~~
frabcus
I do self-censor myself each time I post a bug, to see if it has security
implications!

Most don't - it's similar to software in that regard. I'm already used to
doing that self-censorship for software, so guess it is natural.

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maxaf
I used Trello to organize my NYC apartment hunt. Worked like a charm, made the
process so much easier.

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yankoff
we tried to use pivotal tracker for the same thing

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djbender
forked :)

