Bug Life Cycle: Overview, Bug vs Defect, Reducing TAT for Bug Resolution
Nishil Patel
Mar 11, 2024
6 min read
A defect or a bug life cycle lets you resolve issues and enhance your software quality in an organized manner. In this article, you’ll learn what a bug/defect is. You’ll also learn the subtle differences between a defect and a bug, what’s a defect/bug life cycle, and how to run it for your software to deliver a seamless experience.
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction
2.
What is a Defect/Bug?
3.
Bug Life Cycle
4.
Bug Life Cycle Workflow: Explained
5.
Reduce Your TAT to Bug Resolution with BetterBugs
6.
FAQs
In this article, you will learn all about the bug life cycle, how to run it, and what steps to follow while you test your software for quality. You’ll also learn about the subtle differences between a defect and a bug with a head-to-head comparison between the two.
A defect or bug is a flaw or fault in software. It makes your app behave in unexpected ways or output incorrect or unintended results. It negatively affects your software performance, usability, security, user experience, and so on.
Your software may have bugs because of various reasons, such as a mismatch in the developed software and actual specifications, design flaws, incorrect code implementations, inadequate or erroneous testing, or any other problematic aspect of your software development process. The development team usually fixes defects/bugs after QA engineers or users find, report, and confirm them.
Bug vs. Defect
The words bug and defect are often used interchangeably. Although there are subtle differences between them:
| Aspects | Bug | Defect |
| What do they mean? | A bug is an unexpected mistake in your software code that leads it to malfunction or produce unexpected results. | A defect is an unusual or unexpected behavior of your software from a broader perspective that affects the overall functionality, usability, and user experience. |
| What causes them? | Bugs are usually caused by logical or syntax errors in your code or incorrect code implementations. | Defects are usually a result of erroneous communication of software requirements, design flaws, or functional flaws. |
| How easy or hard are they to find? | Finding bugs can both be easy and challenging. Some bugs are extremely hard to pinpoint since you are looking for logical errors in your code which may not be very evident. | You can spot defects faster since you are looking for any unusual behavior other than your pre-defined software specifications. |
| What are their severity levels? | Bugs can range from minor to critical as per their severity levels of how much they affect your app. | Defects are usually put into the critical severity level since they are direct violations or deviations from the intended software specifications or planning. |
| At what phase/stage are they usually found? | Bugs usually show up during the development phases of software. | Defects are usually identified after the development phase and during the testing phase of your software. |
| How can they be resolved? | Bugs once identified can be fixed by correcting the code logic or syntax. | Defects can be resolved by ensuring that the software behaves as per the laid software specifications and that there are no deviations from it. Alternatively, workarounds can be implemented to align the software as per the exact requirements. |
The bug life cycle is a series of stages that a defect or bug goes through in software testing. Each stage represents the status and progress of the defect or bug from the time it is identified to the time it is resolved or closed. Here’s a lowdown on the stages of the bug life cycle:
Stage 1: New
“New” is the initial state of the bug life cycle. You discover a defect or bug in the software and create a bug report with all the relevant information. You submit the bug report to the dev team for further action.
Stage 2: Assigned
Your dev team receives the defect report and evaluates it. They assign it to a specific developer who will work on fixing it.
Stage 3: Open
The assigned developer starts working on the bug. The bug is reproduced to find the root cause of the problem. The impact and severity of the software is analyzed. A comprehensive bug report with dev tools info such as console logs, network requests, and system info can help your developer reproduce, debug, and fix issues faster.
A valid bug in the “Open” stage is pushed for “Fixing”. Alternatively, it can be sent to one of the other four stages. Let’s understand the four other stages:
- Deferred: If the bug is not a high priority or can be fixed in the next release, it’s marked as “Deferred”. Urgent or critical bugs are prioritized. The status changes from “Open” to “Deferred”. It’s queued to be resolved in the “Next Release” cycle.
- Rejected: If the bug is not genuine, it’s considered out of scope. You mark it as rejected. The defect status changes from “Open” to “Rejected” and then “Closed”.
- Not a bug: If it’s not a bug, but a feature or an enhancement, you mark it as not a bug and closed. The status changes from “Open” to “Not a Bug” and then to “Closed”.
- Duplicate: If the bug is already reported by another tester or exists in another module, you mark it as duplicate and link it to the original bug report. The bug status changes from “Open” to “Duplicate” and then to “Closed”.
Stage 4: Fixed
Your assigned developer fixes the bug by making the necessary code changes and testing the fix. Once it's confirmed that it’s resolved and no longer affects the software, the defect status changes from “Open” to “Fixed”.
Stage 5: Pending Re-Test
Your assigned developer then sends the fixed code for retesting. You verify that the bug is fixed and does not cause any other issues.
Stage 6: Re-Test
You receive the fixed code and re-test the bug. You check if it’s fixed and does not affect any other functionality or feature of the software.
Stage 7: Verified
If you are satisfied that the bug is fixed and the software is working as expected, you mark it as verified.
Stage 8: Closed
If you find that the bug is no longer relevant or valid, you mark it as closed and end the defect/bug life cycle.
Stage 9: Re-Opened (Optional)
If you are not satisfied that the bug is fixed or you find that it has caused another issue, you mark it as re-opened and send it back to the assigned developer. You restart the bug life cycle.
Related: STLC: Getting Started with Software Testing
Now that you have understood the stages of a bug life cycle, here’s a quick overview of its complete workflow, stepwise:
- You find a defect/bug and create a bug report.
- You set the defect/bug status to new.
- Your dev project manager analyzes the defect report.
- As per the defect and defect report validation, a decision is made to work on the next steps.
- If it's an invalid defect, it’s rejected and then closed.
- If it’s a valid one, it goes to the next step which then determines the scope of the defect. If the defect is not in the current scope, it’s marked as deferred and then closed.
- If the defect is in the current scope, it gets checked for whether or not it’s already reported. If it’s a duplicate one, its status changes to duplicate and then closed.
- Next, the defect is sent to a developer or the development team to start fixing. Its status changes to in-progress.
- Once your dev fixes it, its status changes to fixed.
- If the bug fix passes the test, it’s finally closed.
- If it fails the test, the status changes to re-open and sent to the developers for re-work.
With comprehensive bug reports and faster bug-reporting workflows, you can lower your TAT (Turnaround Time) to bug resolution. That’s where BetterBugs comes in as a handy tool.
BetterBugs is a visual bug-reporting free Chrome extension that lets you create comprehensive and data-filled bug reports way faster than traditional bug-reporting workflows. You can instantly share your bug reports through generated report links for your developers to debug faster and better.
BetterBugs not only helps save you time and effort by enabling frictionless communication between your QA engineers and dev teams but also enables swift bug-reporting workflows for better project ROI and accelerated debugging sessions.
How to Create a Bug Report?
Here’s how to create a bug report with BetterBugs in easy steps:
- Download the BetterBugs free Chrome extension.
- Create an account on BetterBugs with your email, Gmail, or GitHub to manage your bug report from a central place.
- Capture your bug/defect with the “Crop”, “Visible Screen” or “Full Web Page Screenshot”. You can also record your screen with the “Screen Recording” feature.
- Annotate your screenshot and add the title and other details to your bug report.
- Select your BetterBugs Workspace and the Project to which you want to add the report.
- Upload the bug report to the BetterBugs account. BetterBugs auto-generates and copies the link for your bug report. You can then share the link to your bug report instantly.
BetterBugs auto-attaches dev tools info like console logs, network requests, and system info to all your bug reports. You can reproduce the issues better with better context and all the info you need for efficient and effective debugging sessions.
You can also share your bug report links directly to your preferred project tracking tools like Jira, Asana, GitHub, and others.
How to Report and Track a Bug?
Here’s how to report a bug and track it with your project tools:
- Create a bug report with BetterBugs.
- Connect your project tool using the “Send to your tools” dropdown and select your tool. Authorize BetterBugs to your tool.
- Select the integrated tool again from the “Send to your tools”. This fetches your tool template fields. Fill in the details as per your tool workspace/project.
- Upload the bug report to your tool.
That’s it. You just integrated BetterBugs with your project tracking tool and shared the bug report link to your project workspace.
Nishil is a successful serial entrepreneur. He has more than a decade of experience in the software industry. He advocates for a culture of excellence in every software product.
Meet the Author: Nishil Patel, CEO, and Co-founder of BetterBugs. With a passion for innovation and a mission to improve software quality.
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