MySQL bugs processing explained

When users submit a report to the MySQL bug system, many of them believe that they are going to get in direct contact with the developers. Before joining MySQL, every time I submitted a bug report I could not help depicting in my mind the idea of a developer while working at his desk, being alerted by a virtual bell that a bug report had been filed, and then going through the motions of verifying it and replying to it.

That idea is far from the truth. While it may happen that a developer is involved in the bug verification process, that occurs only seldom, although it used to be the case, when MySQL was much smaller. Whoever has worked in the development sector knows that developing is a kind of work that requires constant and continuous concentration. As beautifully explained by Tom DeMarco in Peopleware, once a developer has been distracted from his main task, it takes at least 15 minutes before he's back in the flow. Therefore the concept of developers readily verifying bugs is not sustainable today.

The article continues at http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/mysql-bugs.html