How to Make a Good Bug Report?

Every member of the software development team should be able to report bugs. It aids in the development of the application and, as a result, makes the procedure quicker, more effective, and less expensive. There must be a dedicated quality assurance (QA) team, but there are ways to teach developers and other experts the fine art of bug reporting. How should a decent bug report be made?

Everyone else can be treated, at least to some extent, as a user, unlike QA specialists who are trained and purposefully hunt for bugs. The finest illustration of that is the QA crew, who merely attempt to use the application. To assess if anything sticks and if there is a problem, they simultaneously cherry-pick features and attempt to break them. The perspectives of a developer who is most familiar with the app and a QA specialist who operates in “detective mode,” so to speak, are quite complementary to one another.

The key to successful application building lies in communication

Being able to send and receive messages is essential, just like anything else in life. Software development is the same. Other team members ought to be aware of the issue and able to fix it in the future. The work is not done correctly if the bug report is not sufficiently clear.

Precision and clear communication are both highly crucial. Don’t be scared to make things simpler so that others can grasp them. No one is producing a book for the Booker Prize. The ability to quickly comprehend the issue is what makes the difference.

Being vague in the bug ticket makes everyone’s day longer. Due to the inability to comprehend, reproduce, and remedy the fault, it may potentially result in additional and significant costs. Therefore, it’s likely that the bug won’t be fixed.

When should you report a bug and what are the stakeholders?

Of course, there will always be bugs in the software development life cycle (SDLC). Any member of the development team, including a QA Specialist, should report it right away. Because it is more cost-effective to proceed in this manner (bugs won’t cause other issues to arise and build up), but primarily because it is effective. Project managers (PMs) can set aside time and personnel as well as estimate the resources required to address the fault.

There are not many stakeholders to consider. among them, software developers are the most obvious. They operate as one unit and go with the flow. A specific member of the team may receive a specific issue fix. As an alternative, each developer may select a specific bug from the list.

Members of the QA are also crucial. After something has been reported, it is unlikely that it will be repeated elsewhere, wasting the team’s effort. Consciousness is also important. When a bug is reported, other QA Experts are made aware of the problem and can seek for a like issue or build on the current one to find new issues caused by the bug.

The project manager is crucial to the business. A PM is the best candidate if the bug requires the allocation of multiple developers due to its complexity. He or she will guarantee proper action and appoint other developers to implement countermeasures.

The client is the final crucial component of the puzzle. If a defect is discovered after the program has been released, potentially stops the app from receiving updates, or is serious enough to create problems for an extended period of time, the client is typically implicated. The situation must be explained to the client. The actions and schedule for resolving the problem must be known to him or her as well.

The difference between a good and bad bug report

Identifying a defect and reporting it is insufficient. The developer reading a bug ticket must comprehend both the bug and its context, as well as how to reproduce the problem. The capacity to predict the outcome is the last component of the equation. In other words, what would happen if the bug couldn’t be fixed.

“Street lights” are used in this situation. Red signals pause, yellow signals get ready, and green signals proceed. The bug is critical if it affects the app urgently and breaks it. It should be noted as important if it is notable. The queue for minor defects is at the end.

A well written bug report means that the issue can be fixed in a timely manner, saving both time and money. Also, it fosters a developer-QA connection based on trust and quality, which is crucial to the software development process. A good ticket keeps realistic product deadlines and enables re-testing of the bug.

Bake or break – the recipe for clear bug reporting

Bug reporting actually involves following a recipe. There are only a few ingredients, and you must use them. The cake cannot be produced if the proportions are wrong or if something is missing.

Declare that a bug has been discovered, then appoint the appropriate developer to address it. The majority of high-quality tracking programs, such as JIRA, will handle this for you, but assignment is crucial. Choose a developer if you know who was accountable for what. Allow the project manager to address the situation if unsure.

Clearly describe the issue. It’s so evident that sometimes even the title will fix the bug. The right description usually directs developers in the right direction. Make sure the description is excellent and the title is clear enough to understand the issue. build the bug’s context (more on that in a moment).

Provide the actions necessary to reproduce the bug. The most important step of them all. People can be ambiguous at times in this regard. Provide a step-by-step account of what caused the bug to appear. How did you behave as a user when using the app? How did you act, or not act? Do not presume that people are aware of the bug from conversations over coffee in the kitchen. Don’t skimp on information and give the best description you can of the issue.

The actions of the app after reproduction. Also, highly significant When the same method is repeated, a product may occasionally react differently. Concentrate on the reproduction procedures and identify, to the best of your ability, what causes the app to behave differently. Explain the system’s operation and how it ought to function normally.

Priority and severity. The bug could be major, minor, serious, or trivial. This establishes urgency and behavior. A bug triage meeting with the Product Owner or Project Manager should be scheduled if there are a lot of problems in the backlog to examine the severity and priority that has been given. Since we wish to heal the app, the medical reference is rather helpful.

Environment and technology. What equipment did you test on? How much time? What kind of software was set up? What edition? According to your observations, does the setup have an impact on the occurrence or reproduction of the bug? What version of the operating system was being used at the time? All of these details are essential for the bug’s reproduction.

context for a given version. What version of the app was installed during testing, as well as the app’s ecosystem? What kind of OS? This aids developers in tracking the bug back to the most recent code release.

Conclusion

Everyone should know what they are doing and how to do it, in theory. In the actual world, context and other crucial details are frequently absent from problem reports. Performance, security, and UX/UI of apps are given top priority at Nile Bits, but we also consider overall quality.

Regardless of whether you wish to employ software teams for staffing needs or construct FinTech products from the ground up. We have your back. Performance and quality go hand in hand. We distinguish ourselves by achieving it each and every time.