During development when some issue blocks the progress most often it is not a single step fix that solves the issue. There might be several things that need to be done to really address and fix the issue.  This might even involve backtracking previous steps and altering some statements/dependent programs/input values etc. And more than likely some nasty issues can take a while altering and backtracking and at one point things might get set and the issue gets solved. This could be a time consuming process but ultimately there are couple of home works to be done after fixing any long time issue. One is to understand what the actual problem was and the other is to truly understand the steps that fix the problem. If one had been trying different permutation combination of changes to fix the problem then it is most likely that the actual path to fix the problem maybe too difficult to recollect after finding the solution. In essence the developer might be happy that he/she fixed the issue but may not have done those two home works.  The advantage of doing those home works is the lesson one learns in fixing that issue and most importantly the time that it saves the next time when the same issue is encountered is enormous.  The easiest way to make sure that the steps to fix a problem are captured is to keep open a simple editor and note down each and every step before making it.  The bread crumbs approach helps in two ways. One to retrace back and another is the documentation of steps to fix the problem. In fact if the fix to the issue runs for days there is no harm in version controlling this whole bread crumb document.