Bug Report
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Contents
Overview
I guess I'm opinionated about bug reports. As a lead or manager, I often end up recommending some revisions in our bug reporting template or process. Nothing radical. As the references below will show, this model is largely a synthesis of recommendations I've encountered and successfully used over the years.
For a great general treatment of the subject, I recommend Simon Tatham's How to Report Bugs Effectively.
Practices
Opening a Bug
- Include a problem statement with your bug that offers a human-friendly description of the problem with context that will help other people understand the issue quickly and precisely.
- In Steps to Reproduce, include links to URLs and be explicit in your guidance. This article offers some nice good/bad examples: https://medium.com/we-are-testers/chapter-4-how-to-write-clear-and-efficient-steps-to-reproduce-in-your-bug-report-d96039a1c77d
- Try to capture address bar (URL) in screenshots.
- If opening a ticket using an automated tool, update the ticket to include additional context and assign yourself as reporter.
- If you discuss the ticket in standup or on Slack, make sure to capture any important information in the ticket itself.
Closing a Bug
- Keep notes on your progress. Try to develop and prove a hypothesis. If that fails, document it.
- When closing the ticket, write up a brief summary of both the problem and the solution since your understanding of both will usually evolve as you work through the problem.
Template
I like having the following fields in my bug form. If you are using Jira, you can modify your template:
- Title [String]
- Problem Statement [Text]
- Expected Behavior [Text]
- Actual Behavior [Text]
- Steps to Reproduce [Text]
- Evidence (Screenshots, Videos, Logs, Error Reports) [Text]
- Technical Notes [Text]
- Environment [String/Enum]
- Severity/Urgency [String/Enum]
This list is based off this blog post: https://testlio.com/blog/the-ideal-bug-report/
Examples
I usually try to offer actual tickets from my company's ticketing system as good and poor examples.
