WRITING SKILLS

Just think a tester who is very good and skillful in finding defects in the application that he is testing but is very poor in reporting them. Is it not something like cooking a great dish but serving it in an old dirty plate that leaks and messes the dining table? What is the point of taking your time and putting your effort to prepare a tasty dish if your guests can’t enjoy its tastefulness (due to the bad way in which it is served)? The same can happen if a tester is good at finding important defects quickly but ends up logging bad defect reports/bug reports! Chances are more that the seriousness of his reported defect might go unnoticed [worst still, the defect might get turned down as “Rejected” since the programmer looking at the defect report finds it hard to figure out the bug].

There are some key points that can be kept in mind before logging a issue in any software application:

1.    Clarity in the title of issue: If the title will be clear, it will be less time consuming to understand to the developers and managers.

2.    Concentration on context: If you are missing the context then you can miss the defects in the application.

3.    Link clarity in Defect Report: Link should be clear in your defect report.

4.    Clear and simple Bug Report: Bug Report should be simple and meaningful to understand the developers.

5.    Tag your Defect: Every defect should be tagged with the SRS version.

6.    Simplicity is the mother of Elegance: Description of the defect should be simple.

7.    Pass Information, not judgements: Be objective. Report what you are supposed to without passing any kind of judgement in the defect descriptions.

8.    Severity and Priority: Clearly define Priority and Severity for the defect. Because it will be easier to refine the Major and minor defects.

9.    Don’t create a mess: Don’t mess up the Bug report with another issues.