Among all the bugs, the one with the shortest life cycle is Mayfly that live no more than a day after transitioning into an adult. Smart testers and developers aim to keep the same case for software bugs that can cause significant problems if not resolved quickly. This requires effective teamwork between the two. Still, zero bug mark is an unrealistic target. But developers and testers must join hands and adopt best testing practices so that bugs only live for a brief amount of time and don’t multiply. Good issue tracking tools help ensure that most bugs are found and fixed well before going into production. Based on the organizational structure and size of the team, there could be thousand different variations of the bug life cycle.

Where Incident Management Can Go Wrong?

One of the most common mistakes teams make in Agile and traditional environments in different companies is when a bug is fixed and the developer marks it as closed. Technically, it’s the tester’s job to report the bug and the developer’s job is to fix it. But that’s not it. Testers should also ensure that the issue has been resolved before marking it as closed. It’s still possible that the bug remains in the software even after the fix or a new bug is created.

Variations of a Bug Life Cycle

There are numerous other valid validations of this scheme. For instance, you may have someone who’s responsible for revising the incidents that come in and decide which ones to fix and which ones not to. Irrespective of who (tester or developer) marks a bug as “won’t fix”, “resolved”, or through a dialogue (via issue tracking tools or a different medium), both the developer and tester could decide together what is the appropriate decision, showing mutual agreement between the two. In another scheme, you might add when to reopen an incident and what happens once it is reopened. Or, an old bug would simply appear as a new one and the life cycle will start all over again.

One of the basic indicators of the efficiency of a development team is incident management. It is a key area where you can see if developers and testers feel like they are a part of the same team or not. Both sides need to do their part to work as a team. Collaboration needs to be ensured from both the testers’ and developers’ side. Testers need to understand that instead of complaining about the unresolved bugs, they should share a global vision focused on the objectives of the whole team while also understanding that there’s no fixing everything.

Last but not the least, issue tracking tools can be your weapon in the fight against bugs. While it focuses on tracking and recording bugs, it also ensures seamless communication and collaboration between testers and developers to achieve the testing goals while also allowing managers to track the progress.