Category: Defect/ Bug Life Cycle

Defect/ Bug Life Cycle

The defect or bug life cycle refers to the various stages a defect or bug goes through from its discovery to its closure. Understanding the bug life cycle is essential for effective bug tracking and management during the software development process.

Here’s a typical bug life cycle:

1. New: When a defect is logged and posted for the first time, its state is given as “New”.
2. Assigned: After the bug is reported, it is sent to the development team. The project lead or manager validates the bug and assigns it to a developer. The status of the bug now changes to “Assigned”.
3. Open: Once the developer starts analyzing and working on the defect, it’s marked as “Open”.
4. Fixed: After the defect has been addressed by the developer, the status is changed to “Fixed”. The solution may involve code changes or other resolutions.
5. Test: Once the defect has been fixed, it is passed on to the testing team. During this phase, the tester does the testing of the changed code to ensure the issue has been resolved.
6. Verified: If the tester feels that the defect has been fixed, its status changes to “Verified”.
7. Reopen: If the defect still exists even after the fix, the tester changes the status to “Reopen”, and it goes back to the developer for further analysis and fixing.
8. Deferred: Sometimes, a defect might not be considered for immediate fixing because of low severity, or it might be intended to be fixed in the next releases. In such cases, the bug’s status is changed to “Deferred”.
9. Duplicate: If the defect is reported more than once, or if it corresponds to the same error as another defect, the status is updated to “Duplicate”.
10. Rejected: If the developer feels the defect is not genuine, they can mark the status as “Rejected”. For example, if the observed behavior is as designed or if the reported defect does not have enough information and cannot be reproduced.
11. Closed: After the defect is fixed and verified by the testers, it is marked as “Closed”.
12. Not a Bug: Sometimes, the system’s behavior may be misunderstood as a defect, or the reported issue might be part of the intended functionality. In such cases, the status can be updated to “Not a Bug”.

It’s worth noting that while the above states are commonly found in many defect life cycles, the actual states and their names might vary based on the organization, the bug tracking tool in use, and the specific software development methodology followed.

Defect/ Bug Life Cycle