Bugs Management in Agile Project

Agile has a refreshing approach to bugs, especially when contrasted with traditional waterfall practices. Historically, teams would postpone bugs to a stabilization phase. This stabilization phase was long and tedious, typically with high stress and long hours. Agile, on the other hand, promotes the following thought processes:
  • Carrying bug debt is unhealthy and sometimes, even destructive. We should fix bugs, not track them.
  • A feature isn't done until the bugs are fixed. Quality is part of the overall cost.
  • Bugs are prioritized against new features. A bug needs to be more important than the next new feature.

Notes
  • All new features have a "bug tail." The bug tail is the diminishing number of open bugs on the new functionality. When a feature is added, bugs are introduced. Most are discovered and fixed immediately by the team as a part of feature development: some a few days later, others not until long after a story is considered "done".
  • Teams should understand what their bug tail is, and strive to reduce the length of it. While the tail may diminish exponentially, it doesn't reach zero very quickly. Bugs are discovered days or even weeks later. Therefore, a team needs a plan to manage its bug debt.
  • Return Bugs to Their Creators: While bug-prone team members tend to hate this rule, the benefits far outweigh any negative reactions. The biggest benefit is that the bug-prone members tend to spend a good deal of their time fixing old bugs instead of writing new code. As a result, the best coders end up writing the vast majority of the code base.
  • There are two general approaches to dealing with bugs… you either estimate, groom and track them, or… you don’t but it is important to reserve some predetermined capacity for fixing bugs in every sprint.

References:
» Agile Bug Management: Not an Oxymoron - By Gregg Boer
» Managing Bugs in Scrum and Agile Projects - By Mitch Lacey
» Agile Software Development: Dealing with Bugs - By Mark Dappollone

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