Defect Management
All Software Development and Testing Departments have their own way of dealing with defects found during the QA/Testing Phases of their Releases/Project but in general Defect Management typically follows a similar process to the below:
1. Defect Identification – Our Testing Hero (You!) would hopefully have been the person to identify this defect. However, there are times when this could have been identified in LIVE and the discovery was made by a End User or a Customer – this can greatly increase the Priority of the defect.
2. Defect Triage – After the defect has been identified, it will typically be assigned (using the appropriate Defect Management Tool that you company has chosen) to a Team Member in order to triage the issue and confirm if it is a true defect and apply a category to it which has normally already been defined by your company.
3. Defect Priority – Priority of a defect is typically based upon the severity of impact on the user and a comparison against other open defects that are yet to be resolved. This task can be completed during a Stand Up/Defect Management Call which should include representation from Release Management, Project Management, Developers, Testers and in some cases the Customer.
4. Defect Re-Assignment – Once a defect has been a priority, it can then assigned to a Developer who should be able to provide an expected turnaround date.
5. Defect Resolution – The Developer who has been assigned the defect will fix the it and using your companies Defect/Release Management process, the fix will be deployed to the environment where the defect was originally identified.
6. Defect Retest/Verification – When the fix has been deployed to the relevant environment., the QA Tester should re-test the associated tests and ensure that the fix has actually resolved the defect.
7. Defect Closure – Once a defect has been resolved and successfully retested, the defect is then consider as closed and should reflect this status within your Defect Management Tool.
As a QA Tester you should aim to have a clearly defined Defect Management Process which can be included in your Test
Plan/Strategy and make sure that all the relevant key stakeholder understand the importance of this process.
It should also be noted that when implementing a Defect Management process, the process itself is only the beginning. Another area that will need to be carefully reviewed based upon the size of your QA Team and the budgetary constraints of your company is Defect Management Tools. We will take a closer look at the options that are currently available in our Defect Management Tools blog post including JIRA, Trello and Slack as well as other commercial Test Management Tools.
A Certified Salesforce Administrator, Salesforce Einstein Analytics and Discovery Consultant, ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level, Jitterbit Foundations and Jitterbit Core Certified QA Test Automation Manager who is also an experienced creative all-rounder with enthusiasm and the proven ability to understand client needs and deliver satisfying solutions. A thirst for new technology and modern Quality Assurance and Testing techniques keeps me aspiring to learn at every opportunity. My current role is at Publicis Sapient who are an official Salesforce Platinum Partner. Publicis Sapient provide Salesforce expertise and strategic thinking that enables organisations to transform their business to Cloud-based technology.