Software Bugs

bug

A fault in a program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner.

Defect:

Anything that does not perform as specified. This could be hardware, software, network, performance, format, or functionality.

Priority

Priority is Business.
Priority is a measure of importance of getting the defect fixed as governed by the impact to the application, number of users affected, and company's reputation, and/or loss of money.

Priority levels:

• Now: drop everything and take care of it as soon as you see this (usually for blocking bugs)
• P1: fix before next build to test
• P2: fix before final release
• P3: we probably won’t get to these, but we want to track them anyway

Severity

Severity is Technical.
Severity is a measure of the impact of the defect on the overall operation of the application being tested.

Severity levels

1. Bug causes system crash or data loss.
2. Bug causes major functionality or other severe problems; product crashes in obscure cases.
3. Bug causes minor functionality problems, may affect "fit anf finish".
4. Bug contains typos, unclear wording or error messages in low visibility fields.

Believe Defect-Free Software is Possible

The average engineer acts as though defects are inevitable. Sure, they try to write good code, but when a defect is found, it's not a surprise. No big deal, just add it to the list of bugs to fix. Bugs in other people's code are no surprise either. Because typical engineers view bugs as normal, they aren't focused on preventing them.

The defect-free engineers, on the other hand, expect their code to have no defects. When a (rare) bug is found, they are very embarrassed and horrified. When they encounter bugs in other people's code, they are disgusted. Because the defect-free engineers view a bug as a public disgrace, they are very motived to do whatever it takes to prevent all bugs.

In short, the defect-free engineers, who believe defect-free software is possible, have vastly lower defect rates than the typical engineer, who believes bugs are a natural part of programming. The defect-free engineers have a markedly higher productivity.

In software quality, you get what you believe in!

Think Defect-Free Software is Important

Why is defect-free software important?
Delivering defect-free software reduces support costs.
Delivering defect-free software reduces programming costs.
Delivering defect-free software reduces development time.
Delivering defect-free software can provide a competitive advantage.

Defect Tracking Objectives

1. Provide the ability to track defects/problems
2. Provide a defect tracking database
3. Provide project-level data entry support
4. Provide defect tracking/problem reporting workflow management
5. Provide standardized and custom query/reporting capabilities
6. Provide integration to software Version Management system
7. Provide integration to Help Desk system
8. Provide management information (cost of quality) and operational information (support project level testing process)
9. Facilitate communication among testers/developers, the help desk, and management

More ......