Start with impact, not stack traces

The first question is not what crashed. The first question is who was affected, where, and how recently. You need product context before you need technical depth.

Reduce noise before deep analysis

I group reports by:

  • build number
  • device families
  • entry point or feature path
  • release timing

This turns a pile of reports into a few real problem spaces.

Build a short candidate list

By the end of the first pass, you should have a shortlist of plausible causes, not fifty theories. The goal is to shrink ambiguity so the team can spend energy in the right place.

Validate with one tight loop

Use logs, breadcrumbs, release diffs, and reproduction probes to confirm or kill the shortlist quickly. Triage scales when every pass removes uncertainty.