What is bug triage?

Triage means sorting problems quickly: how bad is it, is it real, and which team should fix it.

1. Check the basics first
Like a nurse at a hospital's front desk, first check the setup, versions and settings. A known problem is added to its old report instead of a new one.
2. How bad, how soon
Severity says how bad a problem is. Priority says how soon it must be fixed, and the two can differ.
3. Write a clear report
Like a doctor's notes on a patient, a bug report gives the system, steps, expected and actual results, how often it fails, versions and logs. Then anyone can repeat the problem.
4. Send it to the right team
Like a hospital sends patients to the right doctor, triage sends each bug to the right team. That may be firmware, BIOS, drivers or chip design.
5. Review until fixed
Open bugs are reviewed often, such as every week, until a test shows each fix works. Lessons learned are written down, so mistakes are not repeated.

Words to know

Triage: Quick sorting of problems. Hospitals use the same word for sorting patients.
Bug: A problem that makes hardware or software behave wrongly.
Bug report: A written record of a problem, sent to the team that can fix it.
Actual result: What really happened in the test.
Lessons learned: Written notes on what went wrong and how to avoid it next time.

Engineers write bug reports and follow each one until the fix is confirmed. Bugs with clear reports get fixed faster.

What is the difference between severity and priority?Think first, then tap to see the answer.

Severity is how bad a problem is. Priority is how soon it must be fixed.