Finding and reporting bugs is a key part of the job of every QA. While we are testing some software products, we often find bugs that we report in the form of a bug ticket in some Issue & Project Tracking Software. Many think that after reporting the bug, the job of the QA is done, but in reality, QA plays an active role throughout the bug lifecycle, from opening to its resolution.
Phase 1: Bug review and prioritization
When the bug is reported, usually the first phase is reviewing the bug with the team. This meeting is usually called bug triage where the team goes through the list of bugs and discusses them.
🧑🏻💻 QA’s Role: Even though all the information is already in the bug ticket, during the meeting the QA should explain the bug briefly, explain the impact of the bug, and answer questions that may come out from the team and are related to the bug ticket. After the discussion, the QA should be sure that everyone understands the bug
During this meeting, it will be decided about the severity and priority of the bug ticket, and based on that it will be decided when it is going to be fixed (in the current sprint, next sprint, leave it in backlog, or create a hotfix).
Phase 2: Assignment to Developers
When the bug ticket is prioritized and decided when it is going fixed, the bug ticket is assigned to a developer who is going to work on it.
🧑🏻💻 QA’s Role: In this phase, the QA needs to be available and willing to collaborate with the developer. Maybe there will be a need to have a meeting with the developer for some additional explanations, additional test data, or some other assistance.
Phase 3: Fix Implementation & Code Review
The developer fixes the bug, and pushes the code. The code goes through a code review process, and after the new code changes are approved, the fix is deployed in the testing environment and ready to be retested.
🧑🏻💻 QA’s Role: During this time, the QA can prepare a new test case, or to modify the existing ones with adding additional steps that will cover the bug fix. Also, the QA needs to monitor the updates, and to communicate with the developers to know when the bug fix is ready to be retested.
Phase 4: Retesting the Fix
🧑🏻💻 QA’s Role: The QA retesting the specific scenario that was reported. Also, it is a good practice to check some other scenarios that you think that can be impacted by this fix. The main goal in this phase is to verify that the bug no longer exists. If the bug is still present, the QA needs to write the additional details that explains what is happening after the fix was applied, and return the bug ticket to the developer.
When the bug ticket is returned, the developer will do some investigation and apply a new fix.
Phase 5: Bug Closure
🧑🏻💻 QA’s Role: If the bug no longer exists and all the tests are passing, the QA needs to write a comment that will summarize the testing. In that comment, it is recommended to write the environment where you have done the testing, the testing device or the browser that you have used, the OS version, or the browser version, for which client have you tested, the app version, and other information. You can read more about this comment here. After that the bug ticket is marked as ‘Done‘.
As you can see, the QA is included in all the phases in the bug lifecycle. The opening of the bug is just a beginning of one process that includes some crucial activities where the QA is involved. By following these activities, the QA can be sure that the bug ticket is fixed, that are are no side effects to some other functionalities, and that everything is documented correctly. During the bug lifecycle is important to maintain good communication, planning, and paying attention to all the details.
