Why good Bug report?
If your bug report is effective, chances are higher that it will get fixed. So fixing a bug depends on how effectively you report it. Reporting a bug is nothing but a skill and I will tell you how to achieve this skill.
“The point of writing problem report(bug report) is to get bugs fixed” - By Cem Kaner. If tester is not reporting bug correctly, programmer will most likely reject this bug stating as irreproducible. This can hurt testers moral and some time ego also. (I suggest do not keep any type of ego. Ego’s like “I have reported bug correctly”, “I can reproduce it”, “Why he/she has rejected the bug?”, “It’s not my fault” etc etc..)
What are the qualities of a good software bug report?
Anyone can write a bug report. But not everyone can write a effective bug report. You should be able to distinguish between average bug report and a good bug report. How to distinguish a good or bad bug report? It’s simple, apply following characteristics and techniques to report a bug.
1) Having clearly specified bug number:
Always assign a unique number to each bug report. This will help to identify the bug record. If you are using any automated bug-reporting tool then this unique number will be generated automatically each time you report the bug. Note the number and brief description of each bug you reported.
2) Reproducible:
If your bug is not reproducible it will never get fixed. You should clearly mention the steps to reproduce the bug. Do not assume or skip any reproducing step. Step by step described bug problem is easy to reproduce and fix.
3) Be Specific:
Do not write a essay about the problem. Be Specific and to the point. Try to summarize the problem in minimum words yet in effective way. Do not combine multiple problems even they seem to be similar. Write different reports for each problem.
How to Report a Bug?
Use following simple Bug report template:
This is a simple bug report format. It may vary on the bug report tool you are using. If you are writing bug report manually then some fields need to specifically mention like Bug number which should be assigned manually.
Reporter: Your name and email address.
Product: In which product you found this bug.
Version: The product version if any.
Component: These are the major sub modules of the product.
Platform: Mention the hardware platform where you found this bug. The various platforms like ‘PC’, ‘MAC’, ‘HP’, ‘Sun’ etc.
Operating system: Mention all operating systems where you found the bug. Operating systems like Windows, Linux, Unix, SunOS, Mac OS. Mention the different OS versions also if applicable like Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP etc.
Priority:
When bug should be fixed? Priority is generally set from P1 to P5. P1 as “fix the bug with highest priority” and P5 as ” Fix when time permits”.
Severity:
This describes the impact of the bug.
Types of Severity:
- Blocker: No further testing work can be done.
- Critical: Application crash, Loss of data.
- Major: Major loss of function.
- Minor: minor loss of function.
- Trivial: Some UI enhancements.
- Enhancement: Request for new feature or some enhancement in existing one.
Status:
When you are logging the bug in any bug tracking system then by default the bug status is ‘New’.
Later on bug goes through various stages like Fixed, Verified, Reopen, Won’t Fix etc.
Click here to read more about detail bug life cycle.
Assign To:
If you know which developer is responsible for that particular module in which bug occurred, then you can specify email address of that developer. Else keep it blank this will assign bug to module owner or Manger will assign bug to developer. Possibly add the manager email address in CC list.
URL:
The page url on which bug occurred.
Summary:
A brief summary of the bug mostly in 60 or below words. Make sure your summary is reflecting what the problem is and where it is.
Description:
A detailed description of bug. Use following fields for description field:
- Reproduce steps: Clearly mention the steps to reproduce the bug.
- Expected result: How application should behave on above mentioned steps.
- Actual result: What is the actual result on running above steps i.e. the bug behavior.
These are the important steps in bug report. You can also add the “Report type” as one more field which will describe the bug type.
The report types are typically:
1) Coding error
2) Design error
3) New suggestion
4) Documentation issue
5) Hardware problem
Some Bonus tips to write a good bug report:
1) Report the problem immediately:If you found any bug while testing, do not wait to write detail bug report later. Instead write the bug report immediately. This will ensure a good and reproducible bug report. If you decide to write the bug report later on then chances are high to miss the important steps in your report.
2) Reproduce the bug three times before writing bug report:Your bug should be reproducible. Make sure your steps are robust enough to reproduce the bug without any ambiguity. If your bug is not reproducible every time you can still file a bug mentioning the periodic nature of the bug.
3) Test the same bug occurrence on other similar module:
Sometimes developer use same code for different similar modules. So chances are high that bug in one module can occur in other similar modules as well. Even you can try to find more severe version of the bug you found.
4) Write a good bug summary:
Bug summary will help developers to quickly analyze the bug nature. Poor quality report will unnecessarily increase the development and testing time. Communicate well through your bug report summary. Keep in mind bug summary is used as a reference to search the bug in bug inventory.
5) Read bug report before hitting Submit button:
Read all sentences, wording, steps used in bug report. See if any sentence is creating ambiguity that can lead to misinterpretation. Misleading words or sentences should be avoided in order to have a clear bug report.
6) Do not use Abusive language:
It’s nice that you did a good work and found a bug but do not use this credit for criticizing developer or to attack any individual.
Conclusion:
No doubt that your bug report should be a high quality document. Focus on writing good bug reports, spend some time on this task because this is main communication point between tester, developer and manager. Mangers should make aware to their team that writing a good bug report is primary responsibility of any tester. Your efforts towards writing good bug report will not only save company resources but also create a good relationship between you and developers.
For better productivity write a better bug report.
90 comments ↓
HI, this article is very useful one.It helps me understand effective bug report.
Hi Vijay,
I had written a similar post a couple of months back that was found interesting by many testers. In case someone is interested, (s)he may take a look at it here - How to Sell a Bug!
–Debasis
[…] to write good bug report Good web article on writing effective bug report….. Writing good bug report Why tester should write good bug report? Bug report is important QA document that is used to […]
Hi
Really nice to read this article. I personally feel if you could interrelate this with testcase and execution report that it would give more info. Ie. Whatever we log as status fail in the test excution is record as bug.What I mean is what we record in the actual is now turned as issue and the test codition is the steps to reproduce the same.
Nice One…………
hi,
thanx for your valuable information. I’m doing my testing course. So if u know any oppurtunities please inform me.
Hi
Its really helpful!!
@Thulasi - It could have created some complications by relating it with test cases and execution. I wanted to focus mainly on effective bug report.
BTW,
Thanks all for the kind words.
awesome report…i got a job as a TESTER bt i’ve no idea how the bug report looks like?could u pls give an original report? pls help me…i’m goin to join on comin monday…
very Informative
Hi,
I find this article very helpful and will consider it as a guideline for my report as a Tester.
Thanks,
hi, really it’s a great article.. i’m doing my software testing course right now.. this may help me a lot and i got an overview about bug report..
Thank you so much for your great posts. I read your articles before my interview for a QA position with one of the top software companies in the Silicon Valley. I got the job thanks to your excellent articles!
@ resna - I have mailed you the bug report format. One simple report can also be viewed in comment section of post http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/bug-life-cycle/
@ softwareQA - Its great to hear such news. Congrats for your dream job. I am glad that my articles are practically helping to readers.
Hi
This article is usefule to every SQA. as my point of view i am new to this, after reading this meself confidence level incresed, thanx
Hi Vijay
Its very good
Can u mail me the bug report ?
grajeshkumar7@yahoo.co.in
Thanks
hi,
thanks. the information is very useful do u have information on how to write test cases with examples .as i feel difficult for writing test cases please inform me about testing oppurtunities to my emailid
Hi,
Thanks you all who are maintainnig this site by providing valuable informations to us with better sequence.
Thank you
the article is great,and is very informative for the begineers.
I find this article very helpful and will consider it as a guideline for my report as a Tester.
Hi, this is vishala i got a job as a software test eng. and would like to know about the differenct between the Agile Model and Waterfall Model
I read Bug Report Article it is very good. I hope u can give me answer to any question.
Thank U.
hi this is mohini , which is the best model in SDLC to follow for the small projects.
In Waterfall model and Spiral models
thak u
Totally I Agree
Useful site for Every one so very nice…….
Thanks
Suresh B
@mohini
Firstly, Small projects need not follow any Models friend and the best among the listed two is Spiral model
HI, this article is very useful one.Only terms used while reporting can be changed depend on Bug tracking tool used.
Hi
this is so nice to read. can u mail me bug report
savithri_gudikoti@yahoo.co.in
can u mail me details on energy domain and what are the elements i need to cover
savithri_gudikoti@yahoo.co.in
Hi Vijay,
This is Gayatri . I am having 2 yrs exp as a corporate trainer in testing. Currently joined as a test eng. I ahve to work in QTP and QC..
Please Can you give me Testing Process Flow , What we have to do in real time step by step…
Regards.
Gayatri
[…] How to write a good bug report? Tips and Tricks […]
[…] get his/her 100% bugs resolved. This requires bug reporting skill. See my previous post on “How to write a good bug report? Tips and Tricks” to report bugs professionally and without any […]
Really a very good site for testers at all levels.
You can provide some information on free tools.
Hi,
Vijay, the tips for good bug report is really cool……
I would like to know if you have any domain i.e., Banking/corebanking/lending relating with testing by telling business flow for Retail Assets/corporate assets/retail liability ?
@mohini
If you are working in client place then as per the latest trend all follows V-model where developers, business users and Testers will work together. Which will lead to be productive with best results with time saving and better sharring of thoughts and knowledge with all. There will be very less of misscommunication. Other then that you sprial model is the best one, If you are not working in client side.
@ vijay
can you mail me personally to the rajjonnada@gmail.com/raj_jonnada@yahoo.co.in.
thank you
@vishala
can u give the mail id, i do have some stuff regarding agile and waterfall model if you needed.
This article is fantastic vijay…
@vishala
Principles of Test Automation
In considering how to approach a systematic and productive test automation effort, it may help to keep the following principles in mind. They are culled from the experience of many test automation engineers and managers, over the last 15 years. Some of them I have explained in detail in my article Test Automation Snake Oil, and in my book Lessons Learned in Software Testing.
Transitioning to Agile Test Automation
1) Establish and announce the role of the test automation team to developers and testers.
2) Establish a reporting system and a dispatching system for the automation team.
3) Make an inventory of known testware within the company.
4) Make a quick survey of testware available outside the company.
5) Have toolsmiths sit with testers, understand how they test, and identify test automation opportunities
6) Create the experience for the testers of making a request and seeing it rapidly granted.
7) Review the progress of the automation effort no less frequently than every two weeks.
8 ) Continue to improve the training of the testers, so that they are better able to conceive of sophisticated test strategies.
see more guide on agile automation here
This is by Mr. James Bach.
Hi,
Its reall nice,i can understand how to write a effective bug Report,but please can u send me Original Bug Report Template with some examples.. i am working as a Manual tester.. so please Help me
hi,
u mail me in suganya.thirunavukkarasu@3i-infotech.com
Hi
It is really good.Through this i understand how to write effective bug report.What are the steps we should follow to reproduce a bug.
hi
i am devendra working as a software test engineer. your report is really good and i am impress to see it
hi all
is Software engineer term can be used for qa
i am new to qa, can any body tell me detail of reproduce
please mail me any bug report for sql based project.as next month i will be working on same,please.
pravin.mahajan1@gmail.com
please can you mail me the bug report
please can you mail me the bug report p.kathyayani@yahoo.com
@vijay
Vijay you are doing simply the worthful job.really great
Please can anyone send me the original bug report..
selvam.ba@rediffmail.com
>>hi this is mohini , which is the best model in SDLC to follow for the small projects.
In Waterfall model and Spiral models
@mohini k
r u working? how many SDLC models you know apart from these two which you have mentioned?
vijaysavalagi@gmail.com
>>Its reall nice,i can understand how to write a effective bug Report,but please can u send me Original Bug Report Template with some examples.. i am working as a Manual tester..
@suganya,
till now which template you were using? you were not able to communicate properly with developers with your template? because many organizations use many template formats.
[…] to get his/her 100% bugs resolved. This requires bug reporting skill. See my previous post on “How to write a good bug report? Tips and Tricks” to report bugs professionally and without any […]
1 .do we have any standard test template for testing component/ classes?
2.do we have any standard test template for testing internal window application?
Hi,
Really ur material is good … excellent
How to write the bug report?
I could see lot of times the testers starts with the objects first then subject, like “if user enter something page crash ” is it right? or subject first then object, like Page crash on ‘event’ when user enter something” which approach is right? please comment me…
cheers
susan
To Priya K,
U can get project easily for ur MBA. Contact me. Thanks,
Nikhil
Hi,
can anyone pls suggest me for which tool to start with.
I m having 2 yrs exp in manual, now i want to learn tools.
Sumit
@SR
VSTS is the best tool for performance testing and QTP for functional testing.
cheers
Hi,
Its reall nice,i can understand how to write a effective bug Report,but please can u send me Original Bug Report Template with some examples.. i am working as a Manual tester..we have no particular template in our company so please Help me this is my mailid
thanks for Advance
s_phalguna@yahoo.com
Regards
PHALGUNA
Hi,
this article is really helpful. Can anyone please explain how to write bug report by some examples. like above asked for sql based project example. it would be better if u post it in this knowledgable and helpful site. if not comfortable my email id is kv.testing22@gmail.com
thanks
Kavita
i need lot of help in testing can any one guide and share their respective knowledge with me
my id is saini.msmani@gmail.com
hi kavita can we chat in gmail to know more about testing and share knowledge
I feel attaching screenshots of the BUG is very important in Bug reporting.
Hi, i came to know alot of things about bug reporting.
thank q and the importace of screenshots.
Hi All,
On seeing many requests, I feel that the below one would be helpful to you all.
Lets assume in your application you want to create a new user with his/her information, for that you need to logon into the applicataion and navigate to USERS menu > New User, then enter all the details in the User form like, First Name, Last Name, Age, Address, Phone etc. Once you enter all these need to click on SAVE button in order to save the user and you can see a success message saying “New User has been created successfully”.
Now you entered into your application by logging in and navigete to USERS menu > New user, entered all the information and clicked on SAVE button and now the application creashed and you can see one error page
on the screen, now you would like to report this BUG.
BUG REPORT:
Bug Name: Application crash on clicking the SAVE button while creating a new user.
Bug ID : It will be automatically created by the BUG Tracking tool once you save this.
Area Path: USERS menu > New Users
Build Number:/Version Number 5.0.1
Severity: HIGH (High/Medium/Low)
Priority: HIGH (High/Medium/Low)
Assigned to: Developer-X
Created By: Your Name
Cerated On: Date
Reason: Defect
status: New/Open/Active - Depends on the Tool you are using
Environment: Windows 2003/SQL Server 2005
Description:
Application crash on clicking the SAVE button while creating a new
user, hence unable to create a new user in the application.
Steps To Reproduce:
1) Logon into the application
2) Navigate to the USers Menu > New User
3) Filled all the fields
4) Clicked on Save button
5) Seen an error page “ORA1090 Exception: Insert values Error…”
6) See the attached logs for more information
7) And also see the attached screenshot of the error page.
Expected: On clicking SAVE button should be prompted to a success message “New User has been created successfully”.
Save the defect/bug in the BUG TRACKING TOOL.
Regards,
VijayD
[…] If you need more information about writing a good bug report read our previous post “How to write a good bug report“.
Hi,
Thanks for the worderfull document, which could help all the freshers(tester) to give a very good report. and this could help to increase there Confidence level.
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
its very nice article and very usefullllllll.
thank u very much.
Hello……..
i read all the bonus points to write the effective bug report and i totally agreed with u except one……….
here u say before writing the bug report we reproduce it three time but in some case we found the error in single time and in future it will not generate…….then what we will do with these type of bugs……….
e.g. in some case while testing we found the scripting error but if we try to reproduce it then we may or may not get it again.
then I want to know in this case what we will do.
Thanks
Hi I am a beginner in testing. This article very very useful for me.
Thanks
hi,
I like your explanation for testing concepts, could you mail me the current updates in testing concetps.
regards,
Thanigam
Hi Friends,
Currently i am working in Non-IT field and planned to switch my career to testing.I had learned the basics of testing,and now i am very eager to learn testing practically with real time projects.
If any one interested to teach testing personally with real time projects , i will be more grateful, or else show me the right place in chennai.
Thanks & regards
selvam.ba@rediffmail.com
bug reporting processes is very nice given by you.
thanQ very much
hi,
i like your concepts,
thak you very much.
how to write a good bug report
hello,
I am testing the Web Applications. I am manually preparing the Bug Report. can anyone suggest me which is best Bug Tracking Tool. (Open source Bug Tracking Tool).
with regards,
viji
In a day how many test cases you write in your company.
or
In a day how many test cases you have to write.
In a day how many test cases you can write in your company
or
In a day how many test cases you have to write.
writing of test cases depends upon the type of task if the task is typical then u have too think too much about the various conditions.
remember one thing better the test cases and the planning best is ur testing and for both of it u have too think deeply.
how do we deal with the bugs which are reproducible but end user has no control on reproducing them, for example there is some test requested and a test number is generated ….. 1 request opens one test # and is shown to end user …. but actually some times 2 test numbers are generated and the other one is hidden.
Thanks ashwani
Hi friends plz share ur experience.
How can I write a Test Scenario for the particular module. Plz understand me with the example?
abhishek.kur1@gmail.com
Hi friends plz share ur experience.
What is the diference between Test Scenerio & Test Case. Plz understand me with example.
abhishek.kur1@gmail.com
I usually test by manual and write bug on program write mantis. I feel very worderful.
I want to learn to every body.
Hi Vijay
& friends plz share ur experience.
How can I write a Test Scenario for the particular module. Plz understand me with the example?
abhishek.kur1@gmail.com
Hi Vijay
& friends plz share ur experience.
What is the diference between Test Scenerio & Test Case. Plz understand me with example.
abhishek.kur1@gmail.com
Its reall nice,i can understand how to write a effective bug Report,but please can u send me Original Bug Report Template with some examples.. i am working as a Manual tester..plz…
plz.. send me the Bug Report
mailme.praveen@gmail.com
sorry for writing wrong email Id My mailID:mailmee.praveen@gmail.com
Its really good,
Pls mailme bug report.
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