Implementing Defect Management - Defect (Bug) Triage

[gligorisaev]

What is ‘Defect Triage’?

Defect triage is a process where each bug is prioritized based on its severity, frequency, risk, etc. Triage term is used in the Software testing / QA to define the severity and priority of new defects.

Why do we need to have ‘Defect Triage’?

The goal of Bug Triage is to evaluate, prioritize and assign the resolution of defects. The team needs to validate severities of the defect, make changes as per need, finalize resolution of the defects, and assign resources. Mainly used in agile project management.

How often ‘Defect Triage’ needs to be conducted in a release?

The frequency of Defect triage meeting is not fixed. It depends on project situation. Here, are some important factors that decide the frequency of Defect Triage Meetings: These Important factors are:

• As per the project schedule
• Number of defects in the system
• Impact on schedules of team members’ availability
• Overall project health

Usually, Defect Triage Meetings are held two or three times in a week.

Who are the mandatory and other participants of ‘Defect Triage’?

Mandatory Participants

Below project members always take part in Defect Triage Meetings.

• Project Manager
• QA Leader
• Technical Lead
• Development Team Leader

Optional Participants

• Developers
• Testers
• Business Analyst

Roles and Responsibilities of participants during ‘Defect Triage.’

QA Leader

• Scheduled bug triage meeting and send meeting notification for attendees.
• Create a defect report and send it to all attendees before the meeting.
• Assign priority and severity of the defects.
• Give a presentation so that other members understand Root Cause of defect.
• Every meeting note is captured and sent to meeting attendees.

Development Lead

• Helps in the prioritization of the defects.
• Discuss defect difficulty and explain the risk involved because of that defect.
• Allocate work to fix defects to relevant developers.
• Update the defect resolution and include development notes in case any information is missing or any additional information needed by developers.

Project Manager

• Help in the prioritization of the defects.
• Discuss the next iteration release date for QA.
• Need to make sure that related user representatives are also invited to the bug triage meeting.

What happens during ‘Defect Triage’ Meeting?

• QA leader sends out a bug report with the new defects. During the defect triage meeting, each defect is analyzed to see whether right priority and severity are assigned to it.
• Priorities are rearranged if needed.
• Defects are analyzed and evaluated by the degree of their severity.
• This include discussion regarding the complexity of the defect, risks, rejection, reassignment of errors is done.
• Updates are captured in bug tracking system.
• The QA engineer will make the changes to each defect and discuss them with each attendee.
• The “Comments” field is updated correctly by noting essential points of the meeting.

What is the outcome of the ‘Defect Triage’?

At the end of every meeting, Defect Triage Metrics will be prepared and given to all the attendees. This report acts as the meeting minutes which will prove helpful for future meetings.

Conclusion:

• Defect triage is a process where each bug is prioritized based on its severity, frequency, risk, etc.
• The goal of Bug Triage is to evaluate, prioritize and assign the resolution of defects.
• The frequency of defect triage meeting is decided according to the project schedule, number of defects in the system, overall project health, etc.
• Project Manager, QA Leader, Technical Lead, Development Team Leader are taken part in this meeting.
• Defects are analyzed and evaluated by the degree of their severity.

[TheNeikos]

Heya! Are you suggesting that the thin-edge.io maintainer team does this every week?

AFAIK we don't have a PM and it will be the maintainers who get to decide what gets into the project or not.

We've written down some aspects in the governance that come close to this, maybe you can suggest some improvements here. However, I do not think that any kind of schedule or so would be well received or needed here.

[gligorisaev]

Having in mind that we most probably will need to have defined some kind of "How to react" for incomming bugs from external customers, users ...etc. I gathered some points that we will need in that case in form of process description:

1. Defect Identification: Defects are identified through various means, such as user reports, testing activities, or monitoring systems.

2. Defect Logging: Once a defect is identified, it needs to be logged in a defect tracking system. The defect should be described with relevant details, including steps to reproduce the issue, expected behavior, and actual observed behavior.

3. Prioritization: Each logged defect needs to be assessed and prioritized based on its severity and impact on the system. This helps in determining the order in which defects will be addressed.

4. Assignment: Defects are assigned to the appropriate individual or team responsible for addressing them. This may involve assigning defects to developers, testers, or other relevant stakeholders.

5.Defect Resolution: The assigned individual or team works on resolving the defect by analyzing the issue, identifying the root cause, and implementing the necessary fixes or changes.

6.Testing: After the defect has been resolved, the software or system needs to be retested to ensure that the issue has been effectively addressed and that no new defects have been introduced.

7. Verification and Closure: Once the defect has been resolved and retested, it needs to be verified to ensure that the fix is satisfactory. If the defect is confirmed to be resolved, it can be closed in the defect tracking system.