# Defects

> Raise, triage and close bugs — and link them to the tests and tasks they relate to.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/llms.txt).

Source: https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/quality/defects

---
> **Pro and Premium**
>
> Bug and defect management comes with Pro Unlimited. Linking defects to test
> cases requires the Premium [Test Case Manager](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/quality/test-case-manager).

## Raising a defect

A defect report is only useful if someone else can reproduce it. Four things
are non-negotiable:

**Steps to reproduce**

    Numbered, from a known starting state. "It breaks sometimes" is not a
    report.

**Expected versus actual**

    Both. "It's broken" leaves the reader guessing what correct looks like.

**Environment**

    Browser, OS, device, version, which environment. Half of all "cannot
    reproduce" outcomes are environment mismatches.

**Evidence**

    Screenshot, recording, console output, request id.

> **A defect nobody can reproduce gets closed**
>
> Not because it is not real, but because there is nothing to act on. The ten
> minutes spent writing a proper report saves hours of back-and-forth.

## Severity and priority

Two different things, and conflating them is why triage meetings drag.

| | Asks |
| --- | --- |
| **Severity** | How bad is the impact when it happens? |
| **Priority** | When are we going to fix it? |

A crash affecting one user on an obsolete browser is **high severity, low
priority**. Cosmetic misalignment on the signup page is **low severity, high
priority** — because it is the first thing every prospect sees.

## Triage

Regular, short, and decisive. The output of triage is a decision per defect, not
a discussion.

- **Fix now**: Goes into the current sprint. Something else comes out.

- **Fix soon**: Into the [backlog](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/agile/backlog), ranked honestly against features.

- **Won't fix**: Say so, with a reason. An honest "won't fix" beats a defect that sits open for two years.

- **Need more info**: Back to the reporter with a specific question — and a deadline, or it stalls forever.

> **A defect list nobody triages is a graveyard**
>
> Once it passes a few hundred untriaged items, people stop reading it and start
> reporting bugs in chat instead. Triage weekly and close aggressively.

## Linking

A defect can be linked to the test case that found it, the task that fixes it,
and the release it affects.

That chain is what makes the data worth keeping: months later you can see what
was being tested, what broke, and what was changed to fix it.

## Status flow

A workable default:

| Status | Means |
| --- | --- |
| **New** | Raised, not triaged |
| **Confirmed** | Reproduced, accepted |
| **In progress** | Being fixed |
| **Ready to verify** | Fixed, awaiting retest |
| **Closed** | Verified fixed |
| **Won't fix** | Accepted and declined, with a reason |

> **Tip**
>
> **Ready to verify** is the status teams most often omit, and the one that
> prevents defects being closed by the developer who fixed them without anyone
> else checking.

## Patterns worth noticing

Individual defects are noise; the pattern is the signal.

**The same area keeps breaking**

    That is a design or test-coverage problem, not a run of bad luck. Fix the
    cause, not the tenth symptom.

**Defects spike after every release**

    Insufficient pre-release testing, or releases too large to verify.

**Most defects come from one source**

    If a single customer or tester finds most bugs, everyone else has stopped
    reporting — usually because reports went nowhere.

**Reopened defects**

    Fixes that do not hold mean the root cause was not found. Track reopen rate.

## API access

Defects are available through the [Developer API](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/api/introduction) —
list, create, update, link and change status — so you can sync with an external
support desk or monitoring tool.

- [Test Case Manager](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/quality/test-case-manager): Where defects come from.

- [Defects API](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/api/endpoints/defects/defects-list): Programmatic access.