- You can use a bug report to track the entire story of a bug/feature/refactoring, adding context such as the original problem description, the design discussions between the team, and the commits that are used to solve the problem. This lets you easily see all related commits in one place, and allows others to easily keep track of the status of a particular problem.
- Most commits should reference a bug report. Standalone commits (e.g. one-time cleanups or other small unplanned changes) don't need their own bug report, though, since they often contain all their context within the description and the source changes.
Informative commit messages and bug reports go hand-in-hand, providing context from different perspectives. Keep in mind that such context can be useful even to yourself, providing an easy reminder about the work you did last week, last quarter, or even last year. Future you will thank past you!