Defect life cycle in software testing, corporate world.

As a tester, it is always true that if you find a bug, everybody in the team will ask “is this really a bug:, its not reproduceable, its not in scope …bla…bla...bla.. and if you do not find the bug and in production environment someone else got that ,then you are gone. Why you didn't catch this. its the simple one. Did you not test it in lower environment. Is it passed there? How it passed? Why you did not test well….bla…bla…bla…So every time tester has important role. As a SDET(software development engineer in test) we should understand the basics of defect life cycle.

Lets understand a bug.

What is the difference between bug, defect and error?

Well, an error is a human action or mistake that provides an incorrect result.it is basically a coding or logical mistake made by developer or tester which results failure in software application. A typo in the code or misunderstanding of the requirement can cause error

A bug is a fault in software program that causes it to behave in an unexpected way. The bug arises whenever a programmer commits an error during developing or designing an application.

A defect refers to a discrepancy between the expected behavior and the actual behavior of the software, identified during testing.it is a broader term than a bug and can include problems not only in code but also in requirements, design and documentation.

All these three terms are equally needed for a software tester.

So lets understand what is bug/defect life cycle?

It is a process through which a bug/defect tracks from being reported to being closed/rejected. During this bug life cycle developers and testers need to be involved.

Stages of bug life cycle

Defect Status tracks and analyses the progress of the bug/defect life cycle in testing.

Lets see clear steps how bug life cycle works.

Tester detects the defect and assigns “New” status to it. The detected defect is transferred to the project manager for analysis through scrum master and The project manager determines whether a defect is valid or not. If the defect is invalid, then “Rejected” status is assigned. If the defect is valid ,then its important to check whether the defect is under scope or not. Once it will be analyzed it as it is under scope , then need to check whether duplicate defect raised by someone else or not. then this defect is marked as duplicate status. If it is a valid defect ,then it will be assigned to the developer for fix based on UI issue or backend issue. Developer will mark it as “In progress” status . Once issue is fixed, then he can mark it as “Fixed”/Resolved status. The tester re-tests the code. At this stage, if the Test Case passes, the defect is assigned “Closed” status. If the test case fails again, the defect is reopened and transferred to the developer to fix. This is how the defect life cycle happens.

As a tester, we should follow the defect life cycle steps to accurately track and document the defect to ensure a bug-free and reliable software product.

Cheers!!!!!!!Happy learning.