As a QA engineer, you need to be able to assign both Bug Severity and Bug Priority. Let’s see how that is possible. To learn more about how they both work and how it can be resolved, check out the QA engineer training certification course.
How to Assign Bug Severity?
QA engineers identify a defect’s frequency of occurrence and the extent to which it affects functionality to assess the defect’s severity. It is important to take into account both parameters. Imagine that all of the product pages have specification icons that are the wrong size and that two popular products’ buttons overlap. Both of these are illustrations of the flawed arrangement. However, the symbols just have a bad appearance; a button issue prevents the ability to make purchases. These defects share a similar nature, however, they might range in severity.
How To Assign Bug Priority?
Here are some queries that can help you comprehend this procedure better if you a) need to determine issue priority but are unsure how to do it effectively, or b) are a QA specialist frustrated by how the found problems have been prioritised:Â
- How many users are impacted by a bug?
- What features are impacted?
- Which OS and devices do bugs affect?
- Is this flaw causing a drop in activity?
- Does it cause the business to start losing money?
- Is a company’s reputation or users’ trust impacted?
- Is this software problem legally significant?
As you can see, this problem is more complicated than it first appears. Business data must also be taken into consideration.
Different Severity And Priority Combinations
Here’s another clear illustration of the necessity of severity and importance. These two bug characteristics can be combined in different ways. A really serious and urgent issue: the user cannot access the account. Long explanations aren’t necessary, right?
- A low severity with a low priority: An infrequently used section’s design doesn’t match the website’s most recent redesign. It frequently occurs after rebranding, and certain pages may go months without an update.
- A low severity with a high priority: blunders or poor layouts on the most popular sites. These factors don’t impact functionality, but they can have an impact on how users perceive a brand, which can impact customer satisfaction levels and even revenue.
- A high severity with a low priority: In legacy browsers with older versions, the layout doesn’t fully load. Even though the entire program is impacted, if few people use these browsers to visit the website, fixing these problems won’t be a priority.
Bug Severity and Priority: The Friction
So what fuels conflict and tension? When there is a discrepancy between severity and priority expectations, a development team may become perplexed. In some situations, each participant is certain that they have better justifications for recommending the importance of a particular topic. However, the choice is entirely up to the stakeholders.
A QA engineer or developer should gently address a problem if they think the priority should be different. If the individual making the decision could explain why they gave a certain priority, that would be excellent. Likewise, a stakeholder should seek an explanation if they are unsure of the reasoning behind a particular issue’s given severity.
So the dispute has a human factor. When a group works together to create the finest product they can, everyone may get a touch overexcited. Transparent communication is essential for averting situations like this. Nevertheless, each professional needs to be aware of the development process hierarchy and be able to assess the situation. In other words, just perform your work effectively and be aware of when it’s appropriate to clarify something.
Conclusion
Different teams use severity and priority as operating factors. The severity of a fault is one of the most important considerations, though. The person who must weigh the two options and decide is the project manager. The best you can do is keep in mind the distinction between bug priority and severity and avoid using these phrases synonymously.
Pay attention to the duties and responsibilities that each team member has as another piece of advice. QA engineers should support the development with their knowledge of product quality research, and analysts and managers should ensure that every choice is based on business objectives and the broader picture you are a beginner in QA engineering, then you should check out the QA training for beginners free online to learn more about Bug severity and Bug priority. You can also learn how they are both assigned.
