Defect management is a process used by quality assurance personnel and programmers to keep track of software problems and resolutions. Therefore, defect management tools store all the information about reported bugs and keep track of the status of each bug. You see the need for extensive information while managing bugs.
Following are some of the easy hacks which will help you feel more comfortable while tracking and fixing bugs.
1) Release fast, release often
Open bugs that have been carried along for a long time and are left unevaluated are annoying and probably one of the worst things for testers. Release fast and release often is a philosophy in software development which focuses on early and frequent releases in creating a tight feedback loop between developers and testers. Bug queues with thousands of open bug reports are something every team should avoid. Keeping your defect management lean and tidy will help to resolve issues faster.
2) Create Room for Communication
Despite its need for defect management, many testing scenarios establish no room for communication between software testers and software developers. A feedback-oriented culture helps eliminate misunderstandings. So, it's important to bring everyone on the same page and build strong communications.
3) Keep it one-on-one
Solving bugs only need two people, tester and developer. It should be kept this way. There is no need to have long meetings merely to discuss bugs with your team when they will be addressed in development stages because it will only slow down the process.
4) Avoid personal opinions – focus on solutions
Bug reports should entirely be solution-oriented. Opinions can be discussed within the team via chat tools or email but the bug report is not a place for that. Only relevant and useful information for reproducing and fixing the bugs should be stored in the bug report.
5) Agree upon what a closed bug means
It's important to know what your role is when it comes to closing the bug. The bug should be closed by the person who reported it and not the one who solved it.
6) Only 2 statuses, opened or closed
Statuses like “untriaged” or “started” are overkill for most projects. Every ticket should only have two simple statuses: “open” and “closed”. While the bug report is still “open” it doesn’t matter how big the progress of the developer is, since the ticket is still open which means that the problem hasn’t been solved so far. There a lot of defect and test management tools who offer all kinds of “creative statuses” which keeps everyone busy playing with them. In the end, only two statuses count. Open & closed. Don’t waste time setting statuses.
Conclusion
Every bug which is reported demands additional time in a project to be fixed. Defect management, therefore, requires sensitivity as well as great communication skills from the people tracking bugs as well as from those fixing them. With these 6 defect management hacks, you can try to be more productive while reporting & fixing bugs.
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