The Art of Classifying Bugs in Software Testing

Introduction:

Regardless of an organization's size or industry, the primary goal is to deliver a high-quality product to end users quickly. Throughout the development process, various challenges arise, such as design flaws, goal deviations, and functionality issues. Bug Triage Meetings help identify these problems and provide suitable solutions. However, to expedite bug fixes and ensure timely releases, effective bug classification is crucial.

Bug classification is as important as bug detection. Before delving into the topic, let's understand a few concepts in simple terms.

What is a Bug?

>A bug is an error/flaw found in a developed feature that means that the software or application is not working as per the requirements observed by the tester.

> As soon as the tester finds the bugs, he/she will log the bug and the bug life cycle starts.

The classification of bugs plays a huge role after a bug is logged and before the bug life cycle begins.

How well can we classify the bugs?

Several factors need to be considered before classifying bugs.

1. Impact:

The impact can be measured by analyzing the series of following questions–

• “Whom is it going to impact?” (Eg: whether it is going to impact the Customer Success team, end user, Business owners, developers, etc.)
• “How is it going to impact them?” (Eg: cost, time, user experience, blocking functional usage, etc.)
• “Is there a way to achieve the same operation by any other steps?” (Eg; login with Email & Password might not work, but we can achieve the same operation using Email and OTP - in this case, the impact can be less).

An analysis of these questions can determine the priority and severity of a bug.

2. Priority:

Priority can be defined as “How soon that bug needs to be fixed?”

Let’s look into different stages of priority:

• High Priority: These bugs have a major impact on the customer's application and must be fixed first.
• Medium Priority: These bugs have a moderate impact on the product/business and need to be fixed before pushing it to the production/live environment.
• Low Priority: These bugs have a low impact on the end user/business/product and can be fixed in the upcoming releases.

3. Severity:

Severity can be defined as “How serious/severe that bug affects the feature/application?”

Let’s look into different stages of severity:

• Critical: If a bug results in the complete failure of a feature/sub-feature can be considered a Critical issue. These bugs can also be marked as Showstopper issues.
• Major: If the bug significantly affects the software’s functionality but is not a showstopper. Those bugs can be marked as Major Issues.
• Moderate: If the bug partially affects the software’s functionality, behavioral impact, or performance related then those bugs can be marked as Moderate Issues
• Minor: If a bug causes minimal loss to the feature/sub-feature or inconvenience to the user then those bugs can be marked as Minor Issues.

There are two other important categories of classifying bugs:

Nice to Fix:

It is also called “Deferred Status” in the bug life cycle, this category represents bugs that can be addressed later in upcoming sprint cycles.

Must Fix:

Sorry, no questions! Bugs falling under this classification must be resolved before releasing the product to production.

Now, let's explore the combination of priorities and severities to determine bug fix hierarchy:

Why is bug classification important and how does it help in the Agile era?

> Enhancing the quality of the product

> By identifying the critical bugs and their frequency, ease of product usage can be achieved.

> Rationalizing and prioritizing help in improving the testing efficiency

> Classifying the bugs helps in assigning them to the right team/right developer leading to faster fixes, less bug injection rate, less number of build retesting cycles, and faster release to the production.

> Understanding the number of times the bug gets encountered by the end user, the impact of the bug from a business perspective and customer point of view, and how soon it needs to be fixed helps in achieving increased brand value, user experience, cost, and time-saving.

Final Thoughts:

Effective bug classification is crucial for delivering high-quality products efficiently. By properly categorizing bugs based on impact, priority, and severity, organizations can streamline bug resolution processes, leading to improved customer satisfaction and successful product releases.

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