What are the best practices for tracking and managing defects in JIRA?

In my experience, creating a robust set of best practices for tracking and managing defects in Jira involves defining clear workflows. For instance, establish a standardized process from issue creation to resolution, ensuring consistent steps are followed. Additionally, promote detailed and reproducible bug reports, including steps to reproduce and expected results. Regularly review and prioritize defects to maintain a streamlined and efficient defect management system.

Actually, don't create the defect in Jira! It's much faster to simply fix the defect than to complete all these steps and then fix the defect. Defects found by testers, not developers, and testers can't develop a fix? Why don't developers test? Why don't testers develop? At the very least, why don't they work together to fix the defect? Any defect reporting in Jira should only be for production defects and, whenever possible, be automated.

I'd start with a standard process or template for defect management. Have it include a work flow, guide and examples of defects and how to categorise them. You don't need to re invent the wheel here use industry best practice and then amend based upon your work place.

- Define a specific issue type for defects like like tasks or enhancements. - Customize your workflow in JIRA for the defect issue type to match your team's defect management process. - Prioritize defects based on severity and impact. - Add detailed descriptions, Attach Screenshots/Videos, STR, Test Environment and Configuration. - Link Defects with related stories and task tickets. - Add Labels and Components of respective module/feature for the identification. - Link the defect to that test case and Track key defect metrics.

1. Having an issue type as defect is a must have 2. Use appropriate labels for future filtering in case 3. decide for custom fields such as staging environment, production environment etc..

Defects should have: Name Description ID Test steps Evidence (screen shot for example) Build Who found it Impact assessment (priority) A link to a test case and user story

This is optional I think. Defect id itself would form the unique identifier. About naming convention I think summary of the bug should best describe the essence of issues, and a convention can be followed while reporting similar bugs for e.g A particular piece of UI is missing/or not acting as expected. e.g 1. After Login I am not able to see user's email ID in user profile section 2. After Login I am not able to see log out option etc..

Employing effective naming conventions is a best practice for clear defect identification, specifying details such as the module, function, page, or API involved. In my experience, I have found the format '<Module Name> | <Page Name or API Name> | Summary of the defect' to be particularly useful in achieving this clarity. Categorizing defects through labeling is also considered a best practice. This approach aids in organizing and classifying defects based on relevant criteria, contributing to a more structured and efficient defect management process.

As part of your defect management process you should include a clear explanation of the flow of a defect. Who can raise them? Who can close them? Can't they be deffered? Have a history tracker on them to see who changed the state.

A very crucial step! Defect status should have a correct bug journey from open to in progress and then close. It can be done with correct workflow in JIRA Updating the defect close status such as Not a bug!, fixed!, Won't fix along with right resolution for particular status. Sometimes even root cause. Examples: Not a bug! -> happened because of incorrectly configured environment or data issue Fixed: Added missing condition in the controller

Defects should always be linked to their respective issues. There can be multiple defects found for a single issue and linking them to one another helps the testers to test better. Also for developers, it is a key using which they can think of the base problem which has caused this issue and it becomes easier to work on the defect or a chain of defects which is generally the case in UI defects.

Ensure that all Defects linked to a Parent are Resolved before moving the Parent to Testing and that all Defects are Closed before the Parent is Closed. The Defect Workflow status may vary based on your Company experience, but at minimum should have something akin to Open-->Resolved-->Closed. The JIRA workflow conditions can be updated to control that the Defect/Parent status are accurately maintained.

Defects should be linked to user stories and test cases. If you have orphaned defects from say uat ensure you link them to an appropriate user story or feature.

JIRA offers good options for it. Issue is linked to, blocked by etc.. This is always a good practice to follow and one should link defects linked to particular story, feature etc and story or tasks blocked by a particular defect can be updated using blocked by linking.

It is essential to consistently link defects with specific user stories. This practice ensures a clear and traceable connection between identified issues and the corresponding functionality or requirements, facilitating effective communication and resolution within the development and testing processes.

100% include evidence this is an absolute NECESSITY. Too many times you see defects with little to no evidence capture. Have videos, screen shots, error messages and detailed steps on how to reproduce them. Saves you and developers so much time.

Defects along with right steps to produce should have appropriate comments and attachments to help the viewer whoever will fix or look the defect. Good and descriptive comments and attachments can help save a lot of time.

Including specific comments and supporting evidence is imperative when raising defects. This practice enhances the clarity and comprehensiveness of the defect report, providing essential context and details that contribute to a more effective and efficient resolution process.

Different Jira gadgets can be used to keep track of the defect metrics: 1. Defect count in each Jira tickets 2. Defect categorization by priority 3. Defect Categorization by nature such as performance issue, environmental issue, Design Issue,etc 4. Defect metrics for each test levels such as functional, integration, regression and so on. 6. Defects created vs resolved charts 7. Defect metrics comparison with the previous sprints

Based on my experience, I consistently utilize the JIRA dashboard to monitor and assess the testing status. In that context, we can create all the necessary test metrics using a robust test management tool. This approach ensures comprehensive tracking and reporting of key metrics, contributing to effective test management practices.This practice enables effective communication with stakeholders by providing a comprehensive view of the testing progress and outcomes.

1. Define the defects work flow 2. Define the severity levels 3. Define right stakeholders/project development and QE SPOC 4. Define/Automated triggers for notification 5. Define triage process 6. Track on daily basis 7. Define escalation mechanisms