Bug Triage and Prioritization | Severity-Based Workflow
Triage bugs by severity, urgency, and user impact. Reserve 10-20% sprint capacity for fixes. GitScrum provides bug workflows, severity tags, and resolution metrics.
9 min read
Not all bugs are equal. GitScrum helps teams triage bugs systematically, prioritize by impact, and track resolution without losing focus on delivery.
Bug Triage
Severity Classification
BUG SEVERITY LEVELS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ CRITICAL (P0): │
│ ───────────── │
│ • System is down or unusable │
│ • Data loss or corruption │
│ • Security vulnerability │
│ • Payment/billing broken │
│ │
│ Response: Drop everything, fix immediately │
│ SLA: 2-4 hours │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ HIGH (P1): │
│ ────────── │
│ • Major feature broken, no workaround │
│ • Significant performance degradation │
│ • Blocking many users │
│ │
│ Response: Fix this sprint │
│ SLA: 1-2 business days │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ MEDIUM (P2): │
│ ──────────── │
│ • Feature partially broken, workaround exists │
│ • Affecting some users │
│ • UI issues that confuse users │
│ │
│ Response: Plan for next sprint │
│ SLA: 1-2 weeks │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ LOW (P3): │
│ ───────── │
│ • Minor issues, cosmetic problems │
│ • Rare edge cases │
│ • Nice-to-fix but not urgent │
│ │
│ Response: Backlog, fix when convenient │
│ SLA: Best effort │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Triage Process
BUG TRIAGE MEETING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DAILY/WEEKLY TRIAGE: │
│ │
│ WHO: Product + Engineering + QA (15-30 min) │
│ │
│ AGENDA: │
│ 1. Review new bugs │
│ 2. Assign severity │
│ 3. Assign owner │
│ 4. Add to sprint or backlog │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ TRIAGE QUESTIONS: │
│ │
│ IMPACT: │
│ • How many users affected? │
│ • How severely are they affected? │
│ • Is there a workaround? │
│ │
│ URGENCY: │
│ • Is this blocking critical workflows? │
│ • Time-sensitive (event, release)? │
│ • Getting worse over time? │
│ │
│ COMPLEXITY: │
│ • Quick fix or significant work? │
│ • Known root cause? │
│ • Risk of introducing more bugs? │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ TRIAGE OUTCOME: │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ BUG-123: Login fails intermittently ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Reported: Jan 15 ││
│ │ Reporter: Customer Support ││
│ │ ││
│ │ TRIAGE DECISION: ││
│ │ Severity: P1 (High) ││
│ │ Impact: 5% of login attempts failing ││
│ │ Workaround: Retry usually works ││
│ │ Owner: @backend-dev ││
│ │ Target: This sprint ││
│ │ ││
│ │ NOTES: ││
│ │ Likely related to session timeout issue ││
│ │ Check PROJ-087 for similar ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Bug Tracking
Bug Task Structure
BUG REPORT TEMPLATE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ COMPLETE BUG REPORT: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ BUG-145: Users can't save profile changes ││
│ │ ││
│ │ SEVERITY: P1 (High) ││
│ │ STATUS: In Progress ││
│ │ OWNER: @dev-jane ││
│ │ ││
│ │ REPORTED BY: ││
│ │ Customer Support (3 tickets this week) ││
│ │ Internal QA (reproducible) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ ENVIRONMENT: ││
│ │ Browser: Chrome 120, Firefox 121 ││
│ │ Affected: Production ││
│ │ First seen: Jan 14 ││
│ │ ││
│ │ REPRODUCTION STEPS: ││
│ │ 1. Log in as any user ││
│ │ 2. Go to Settings > Profile ││
│ │ 3. Change display name ││
│ │ 4. Click Save ││
│ │ ││
│ │ EXPECTED: Profile updates, confirmation shown ││
│ │ ACTUAL: Spinning loader forever, no save ││
│ │ ││
│ │ FREQUENCY: 100% reproducible ││
│ │ WORKAROUND: None ││
│ │ ││
│ │ INVESTIGATION: ││
│ │ • API returns 500 on PUT /profile ││
│ │ • Error: Database connection timeout ││
│ │ • Started after deploy on Jan 14 ││
│ │ ││
│ │ ROOT CAUSE: ││
│ │ Connection pool exhausted due to leak in new code ││
│ │ ││
│ │ FIX: ││
│ │ PR #456 - Properly close DB connections ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Bug Board
BUG TRACKING BOARD:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ BUG BOARD VIEW: │
│ │
│ TRIAGE IN PROGRESS IN REVIEW TESTING DONE │
│ ─────── ─────────── ───────── ─────── ──── │
│ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ │
│ │P1 │ │P1 │ │P2 │ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ │
│ │#156 │ │#145 │ │#142 │ │P1 │ │P0 │ │
│ │Auth │ │Profile│ │Export│ │#143 │ │#140 │ │
│ └──────┘ └──────┘ └──────┘ │Search│ │Login │ │
│ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ └──────┘ └──────┘ │
│ │P2 │ │P2 │ ┌──────┐ │
│ │#157 │ │#151 │ │P2 │ │
│ │UI │ │Perf │ │#138 │ │
│ └──────┘ └──────┘ │Date │ │
│ ┌──────┐ └──────┘ │
│ │P3 │ │
│ │#158 │ │
│ │Typo │ │
│ └──────┘ │
│ │
│ FILTERS: │
│ [All] [P0-P1 Only] [My Bugs] [This Sprint] │
│ │
│ STATS: │
│ Open: 8 (1 P0, 3 P1, 2 P2, 2 P3) │
│ Fixed this week: 5 │
│ Avg fix time (P1): 1.5 days │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Prioritization
Balancing Bug Fixes
BUG ALLOCATION STRATEGY:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SPRINT CAPACITY ALLOCATION: │
│ │
│ OPTION 1: Percentage Reserve │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ Sprint 14 (30 points) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Features: 24 points (80%) ││
│ │ Bugs: 6 points (20%) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Bug allocation: ││
│ │ • P1 #145: 3 points ││
│ │ • P2 #151: 2 points ││
│ │ • Buffer for critical: 1 point ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ OPTION 2: Bug Fix Day │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ Every Friday = Bug Fix Day ││
│ │ ││
│ │ • All devs work on bugs ││
│ │ • Tackle backlog of P2/P3 ││
│ │ • No feature work ││
│ │ • 20% of sprint = 1 day/week ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ OPTION 3: Bug Sprint │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ Every 4th sprint = Bug/Tech Debt ││
│ │ ││
│ │ • Full sprint on quality ││
│ │ • Clear backlog ││
│ │ • Address tech debt causing bugs ││
│ │ • 25% of capacity over time ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ CRITICAL BUGS (P0): │
│ Always immediate, regardless of allocation │
│ Pull from sprint if needed │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Deciding What to Fix
BUG PRIORITIZATION MATRIX:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ HIGH IMPACT │
│ │ │
│ ┌───────────┼───────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ FIX │ FIX │ │
│ │ NOW │ SOON │ │
│ │ (P0-P1) │ (P1-P2) │ │
│ EASY ───┼───────────┼───────────┤─── HARD │
│ FIX │ │ │ FIX │
│ │ FIX │ MAYBE │ │
│ │ WHEN │ DEFER │ │
│ │ FREE │ (P3) │ │
│ │ (P3) │ │ │
│ └───────────┼───────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ LOW IMPACT │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ QUESTIONS TO ASK: │
│ │
│ HIGH IMPACT + EASY: │
│ "Why haven't we fixed this already?" │
│ → Just do it │
│ │
│ HIGH IMPACT + HARD: │
│ "Is this worth the investment?" │
│ → Plan carefully, might need spike │
│ │
│ LOW IMPACT + EASY: │
│ "Can we batch these?" │
│ → Group for bug fix day │
│ │
│ LOW IMPACT + HARD: │
│ "Will anyone notice if we don't fix?" │
│ → Consider closing as "won't fix" │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Bug Metrics
Tracking Bug Health
BUG METRICS DASHBOARD:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ BUG HEALTH METRICS: │
│ │
│ CURRENT STATE: │
│ Open bugs: 23 (3 P1, 8 P2, 12 P3) │
│ New this week: 7 │
│ Fixed this week: 9 │
│ Net change: -2 (improving) │
│ │
│ TREND (last 8 weeks): │
│ 40│ ┌──┐ │
│ │ ┌──┤ │ │
│ 30│ ┌──┤ │ ├──┐ │
│ │──┤ │ │ │ ├──┬──┐ │
│ 20│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├── │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ └──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴── │
│ W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 │
│ │
│ RESOLUTION TIME: │
│ P0: 4 hours (target: < 8 hours) ✅ │
│ P1: 2 days (target: < 3 days) ✅ │
│ P2: 8 days (target: < 10 days) ✅ │
│ P3: 21 days (target: < 30 days) ✅ │
│ │
│ ESCAPE RATE: │
│ Bugs found in production: 7 │
│ Bugs found before release: 12 │
│ Escape rate: 37% (target: < 30%) ⚠️ │
│ │
│ ACTION: Improve pre-release testing │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘