Good bug reports increase team productivity
Bad bug reports cost your team time. A typical bug passes through a developer, QA before and after release, and the person who found it, often with a project manager, a client, support or another developer along the way. Every one of them reads the report. On a remote team across time zones, every unclear line costs a round trip.
The short version
- A short, specific title. Easy to scan in a list.
- Numbered steps to replicate. The exact steps, in order.
- What you expected, and what happened.
- Your thoughts only where they help, such as when a result surprised you.
- The right visual aid: a screenshot, a short screen recording, or nothing.
- The whole team on board, so every report looks the same.
Write titles like a menu
A good title is like an item on a restaurant menu: it tells you exactly what you’ll get. “Bug with new feature” means nothing by the time it’s fixed, and “bug” is redundant in a bug tracker anyway. Long titles are just as bad, because nobody can scan them.
Pick a format and stick to it. For example, put the affected part in brackets at the start, then the platform or browser if it matters. Consistent titles are easier to search and easier to scan.
Steps to replicate
Describing a bug without steps is like describing a car noise to a mechanic.
- Use a numbered list.
- Reproduce the bug at least twice before you report it.
- Start clean: clear cookies and cache, update your software, check you’re on the right server, and use a fresh session or another browser.
- Write the steps down as you go. You’ll often find the “bug” was your environment or account.
A fresh temporary identity in Ghost Browser is the quickest clean start: new cookies, no sign-out, and your other accounts stay as they were.
Expected and actual
“The user’s photo didn’t update” doesn’t help unless you say where and how it was uploaded, what you expected to see, and what you saw instead.
Show, don’t just tell
- Screen recordings beat screenshots for anything with more than one step. They’re quick to make and catch the small actions that turn out to matter.
- Screenshots are fine for a single result when the steps are obvious.
- Videos can’t be searched, so always add the text summary and steps too.
Keep it short
Extra detail, frustration and lobbying for a fix slow every reader down. Assume the developer cares. Leave the priority alone unless the developer changes it.
Get the team on board
Share this checklist with your team. It’s a low-conflict way to agree on a standard, and everyone gets time back.
By Larry Kokoszka.
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