For a lead who inherited a backlog and a codebase: sort the issues, ask the code, close nothing blind

The problem

A long backlog hides duplicates, issues missing details and a few that matter a lot. Reading every one takes weeks.

Closing by silence alone is contested: in a public etcd thread a contributor proposed treating a stale bot as a one-off cleanup because silence is not low value; maintainers disagreed and the proposal was closed as not planned.

Propose, then let a person close

Give each issue one state with its evidence, and send a closure batch for a person to approve, with a reopen list. A free triage example from GitHub keeps the reading step read-only and sends writes through checked outputs.

GitHub also warns that labels can trigger other automation, so labels belong in the sheet first.

• Keep
• Possible duplicate
• Needs information
• Proposed stale

Get the code to answer for itself

Ask written questions and require a file and line for each answer. A script can check the citation exists. Add questions whose answer is not in the code, to see whether the answers are invented.

Which job fits

Sort the backlog first, then rewrite the tickets you will start. Try the open bug reports in a sandbox, and ask the codebase questions you need answered before you commit to a plan.