Lessons to be Learned from the Bugs

In this post, I will be looking at Bugs  with an insight that helps testers to learn some new lessons on why the same might have occured. It's quite common that the testers are  blammed  for  all  the  missed out  bugs  in the system as if they are super natural powers to over see all the issues that are there in the system.

Bugs are there every where. Not just software applications, look at any system for that matter & there are issues wrt End User needs and the same might need to evovle over a period of time with the changing needs / requirements from time to time.

What is a Bug ?

It's tough to arrive at a generic defintion for the bug & people might have heated discussions on what is a bug & what is not. Mostly it's based on the context in which people are working. We do come across many bugs in our daily life while working with the tools that are needed for the day to day operations.

So in my context, Bug is something  that's unable (doesn't allow me) to satisfy my needs with the system.  What do to do ?

Capture the story around the Bug and not just steps to reproduce. Talk to the reporter and discuss on the scenarios used with the system that lead to the bug.Let's explore the possible options even though Tester validated the system early

New Test Scenarios for the Testers

•  We mayn't even think of that scenario while validating the system. Add the similar test scenarios to the Test Suites

• The scenario may not be logical (though it seemed to be for testers) for the user though functionally correct. Add to the similar scenarios to Test Suites

• Might have been a compatability issue with a new environment that doesn't exist in Test Labs  

Reduce mistakes and improve test teams capability

•  Might have been missed by a Tester. Check with the tester who performed the Test earlier and find out on why issue missed and the same marked as a pass even though it fails. Might happen through overlook also. Do more analysis here and try to reduce the same.

• Might be over looked through regression tests. Might have failed and passed in the internal builds and finally breaked in the production system. Analyse the reasons here and improve upon on regression testing.

• Make it a point to log the bug as soon as they discover the same. People might loose the same from their memory as time goes