There is a common saying that it is not quality, but the lack of it which costs a lot of time and money to the companies. In a world where release cycles and sprints are getting shorter and customer expectations are going through the roof, releasing a poor-quality product in the market is nothing short of catastrophic. Which is why it is of utmost important to employ effective issue tracking tools to identify any areas in the application which might be lagging behind. Even the simplest of issues in the performance or the functionality of the application can have a severely negative impact on the user experience.
A bug or a defect is any problem which disrupts the coding, design, or specification of the application. Hence, it is necessary to track and trace all the bugs which interrupt the smooth development process of the software application. With the use of issue tracking tools, software testers are able to not only detect bugs early on in the development process but they can also report and log them which might benefit them in future projects. The effective use of these tools enable the testers to streamline all processes and organize the defects as per to their impact with ease and comfort. Issue tracking management also facilitates the company to keep up the quality standards and be at par with international best practices and compliance measures.
Issue Tracking Tools and Quality Assurance
Apart from the fact that issue tracking is one of the main ways to manage and mitigate the bugs in the software applications, these tools are also used to create a shared language for all testers, developers, and project managers. The shared knowledge and language ascertain that all the team members are on the same page and everyone is able to keep track of what is happening in the project at all stages. In addition to this, issue tracking allows the testers to ensure that the quality of the product is maintained without compromising on any factors of the development process.
Fundamentals of Issue Tracking Tools
Information collection – similar to any other system, guidelines for issue tracking management should be established to determine what is the minimum amount of information which is required to report a bug in the system. It must be simple enough so that people are able to use it easily but it must also contain all the necessary information as well.
Reproduction – a user must be able to reproduce the defect in order to verify that the defect has been acknowledged and resolved. While it is possible to fix the issue without this process, but it still remains time-consuming.
Prioritize and schedule – once a defect has been identified and acknowledged by the team, it must be prioritized and scheduled as per to its severity and impact, which is mostly determined by the project manager.
Communication – in order to resolve the issue timely and effectively, there must be an open line of two-way communication between the reporter of the issue and the person who has been assigned to resolve it.
Author Bio:
Scott Andery is a senior Marketing Consultant and technical writer at Daily Tech Times. He has worked with different industries. He started his career with one of the consulting company based in New York. Scott has 10+ years of experience in technical writing.
