If you’re a software developer or QA tester, odds are that you’ve been asked to write software defect reports before. These documents are used during software development to ensure effective communication between testers and developers in detecting and addressing software bugs or defects.
Without them, software development costs can bubble up and development teams have been known to breach contract milestones and deadlines because of extraneous defects. According to statistics, about 500 hours are needed to create even a basic application, with 87% or more of organizations experiencing a developer talent gap.
You can improve your resume but also ensure the success of any project you work on by learning how to write defect reports. Let’s discuss what goes into writing them and why they’re important in the following segments.
The Role of Software Defect Reports
Despite how experienced you may be as a developer, there will always be defects in your code after months of development. Finding, indexing, and reporting on these defects is what we refer to as “writing software defect reports”. It is a means for development teams to sort and address issues in the software app, website, or platform they’re developing before launch.
These documents are extremely valuable as they can streamline development and ensure that the client or customer receives the best possible product on day one. Without them, running QA tests or organizing bugs into manageable reports is nigh impossible in long term. We can summarize the perks of writing software defect reports in several essential points:
- Ability to detect and address critical errors and deviations in the code early
- Improved internal developer communication and job delegation
- Far higher quality of the final product compared to ad hoc QA
- Ability to store and parse through defect data even months or years afterward
- Higher development ROI and more efficient use of available resources
Tips to Write Effective Software Defect Reports
- Decide on your Defect ID System Early On
Making good use of your software defect reports will come down to how effective your defect ID system is. Assigning no ID to your defects and generating new ones on a daily will quickly create confusion with your QA team. Try to assign numbers, codes, or alphanumeric data to each defect in your database. That way, everyone will understand which defect was detected when in contrast to others in your documentation.
For example, defect “A005” logically came before “A020” but not after “B002”, which belongs to a “B” string of defects. This type of ID designation will significantly improve your defect tracking and report writing efforts, resulting in quicker, more effective bug fixes.
- Assign Defects with Descriptive Titles
Following the defect ID, you should also write a descriptive-enough title for your QA to use as reference. Defect titles should be short, informative, and descriptive – not coded like defect IDs. For example, a defect title combined with an ID can look like this: “C005_unexpected app hard crash”.
Using both elements to write software defect entries will bring you another step closer to fast-tracking your QA and making their jobs far easier. Take the time to assign each defect report with its distinct title and parsing through generated data will become smoother.
- Prioritize your Defects to Make QA Easier
Not all software defects will be equally damaging to your software app. For better or worse, your team will only have a limited amount of time to work on detecting and fixing bugs before the promised launch day. As such, you should learn to prioritize defects based on the damage they can do to your user’s workflow.
Following the previous defect ID and title logic, prioritizing defects can look like this: “A025_graphical element multiplication in interface_1”. Prioritizing defects can either be done numerically (1 to 5 for example) or with colors, red being urgent and green being a minor defect. Your team should address as many defects as possible before launch, but there will only be so much you can do quickly – learn to prioritize.
- Outline the Steps Necessary to Reproduce the Defect
Describing exactly how your QA team can reproduce the defect you just described is essential for effective bug-fixing. Write down a step-by-step process of how your developers can reproduce the defect to find out exactly what’s going on with the code in the back-end. Outlining the necessary steps can be done with bullet points or numbered lists where you will guide the reader through UI options to execute.
This segment of the software defect report should be as concise and clear as possible to avoid miscommunication or confusion. Avoid unnecessary explanations or paragraphs-long instructions – tell your developer exactly what to do and how to do it. It’s good practice to also include info about your OS, machine, or any other extra detail you might consider relevant to that particular defect.
- Attach a Relevant Screenshot to Assist in QA
Finally, you can help your developers even more by taking a screenshot of whichever defect you’ve detected. Create a small JPEG or PNG file which you will then attach to the software defect report to guide your software developer to the error you’ve encountered.
This is useful if multiple similar defects are detected which are seemingly indistinguishable. With screenshots, you will make parsing and addressing such issues far easier and draw attention to the correct defect more effectively.
In Conclusion
The best value you can get from learning how to write software defect reports is to reduce your development costs of projects moving forward. As you can see, writing these documents isn’t difficult nor complex – all you need is a solid indexing system to rely on.
By writing these reports, you will enable anyone who joins your development team to quickly get a grasp on how to contribute to the project. As a software developer or QA tester, there’s nothing more you could ask for.
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Author’s bio. Jessica Fender is a professional marketer and a content writer. If you ever wondered, “I wish someone would write my essay for me”, she is one of those professional academic level writers that will save you time and your degree. She enjoys the beach, martial arts, and literature.
