subject: How To Report Bugs Effectively [print this page] Cigniti is a pure play, Independent Software Testing Services Company and is publicly listed. Over the last 14 years Cigniti has worked with companies in the US, India, London and Colombiato deliver quality software using its proprietary PREDICT QUALITY test methodology and test advisory services. Cigniti offers performance testing, test automation, core testing, mobile testing, compatibility testing, functional testing service, security testing and test consulting services.
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's source code or its design, and a few are caused by compilers producing incorrect code. Reports detailing bugs in a program are commonly known as bug reports, fault reports, problem reports, trouble reports, change requests, and so forth. - Wikipedia
There might be many fields (information) that need to be filled while reporting a bug. The number of fields, mandatory fields, optional fields etc. differs from team to team. But a few bare minimum fields that are required during reporting a bug in almost all teams are as follows:
a.Title
b.Description
c.Steps to Repro
d.Expectation
e.Severity / Priority
Most of the time, testers try to provide information in a hurry, without providing sufficient / relevant details to stakeholders. Before we understand how to report bugs effectively, it is important to know the answers to the following questions
a.Why testers report bugs?
b.Who are these stakeholders?
Why testers report bugs?
-Testers report bugs so that it is not found / reported by end users and by doing this testers make end users happy, which in return helps business.
-Testers report bugs so that the cost to the company can be reduced by increasing the throughput or decreasing the resource utilization.
So, in other words testers report bugs for minimizing impact on users / business due to fault present in the system / application.
Who are these stakeholders?
Stakeholders who are most interested in knowing about the presence of a bug are Developers and Project Managers. Developers are the one who are responsible for fixing the fault in the application and Project Managers are the one who decides on priority of fixing the fault.
