bugs

Articles

Bug on a leaf How to Respond to Retest Requests without a Clear Bug Fix

After finding and reporting a bug, a tester may get this response from a developer: "Please rerun the test on the latest version of the code and check if the bug still reproduces." This seems like a rational request; just as a change can cause a bug to appear, it can also fix a bug. But is following up the responsibility of the tester or the developer? And if the bug is no longer there, how do you classify and close it?

Michael Stahl's picture Michael Stahl
Clip art of an insect with a target on its back How Much of Debugging Software Is a Tester’s Responsibility?

Everyone knows a tester's job is to help improve the quality of the software under test. But it gets a little murky when you try to define the boundary between testing and debugging. There's no clear delineation: Some testers would state how to reproduce the bug, write the report, and hand it off, while others learn the code, find the root cause, and even create builds to fix the bugs. How much is useful, and how much is too much?

Michael Stahl's picture Michael Stahl
Identical bugs under a magnifying glass When Testers Should Consider a Bug a Duplicate

When can a bug report be considered redundant because it is already reported in the bug management system? If you ask the developers, if two bugs are caused by the same mistake in the code, it’s enough to report one of them. But Michael Stahl has good arguments from a tester's perspective about why it's better to err on the side of over-reporting bugs.

Michael Stahl's picture Michael Stahl
Bug taxonomy Using Bug Taxonomy to Design Better Software Tests

In software testing, bug taxonomy involves defining feature categories and collecting lists of possible bugs in each category. These lists can be used to give inexperienced testers some starting points, to help experienced testers brainstorm new ideas, and to evaluate the completeness of a test case. Using an existing bug taxonomy can be useful, but creating your own is even better.

Michael Stahl's picture Michael Stahl

Better Software Magazine Articles

FAQ: What Should I Do When My Bug Gets Rejected?

In this installment of FAQ, SQE Trainer Dawn Haynes answers one of the questions students ask her most often.

Dawn Haynes's picture Dawn Haynes
I'm Tired of Finding Bugs

After thirteen years as a tester, Alan Page is tired of finding bugs. While he still enjoys testing, he'd rather the bugs be prevented altogether. Read his article to find out how increase quality and decrease bugs earlier in the cycle.

Alan Page's picture Alan Page
Location! Location! Location!

In real estate, it's not so much which house you buy as where you buy it. The same is true for bugs—the bug itself isn't as important as pinpointing where the bug lives and breeds. Learn one way to track down a bug's true source and prevent it from recurring.

Adam Kolawa
The Case of the Crashing Test Site

Tom McGreal warns you of problems that may be lurking in your deployment environment.

Tom McGreal

Interviews

Sam Kaufman Why Bug Reporting Is More Important than Ever Before: An Interview with Sam Kaufman

In this interview, Sam Kaufman, the founder and CTO of BugReplay, explains why most teams don’t put enough emphasis on bug reporting—even though agile and DevOps have made it even more important than before. He also details where DevOps can improve and where he sees it in five years.

Josiah Renaudin's picture Josiah Renaudin

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