1. Better Bug Workflow System
Robert Sabourin
President
AmiBug.Com, Inc.
Montreal, Canada
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

2. Elevator Parable Overview Introductions Elevator Parable
Quadrants of priority and severity
Example definitions
Fundamental question of software engineering
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

3. Elevator Parable Robert Sabourin , Software Evangelist President
AmiBug.Com Inc.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

4. Fundamental Question How do you know when you are finished?
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

5. Bug Priority and Severity
It’s all about people! (and the occasional bug too)
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

6. Purpose of Testing Common definition: Broader definition:
To find bugs before our customers do!
Broader definition:
The role of testing is to provide objective input to facilitate business decisions!
Keeps stakeholders aware of all issues or concerns that relate to shipping a product!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

7. Bug Defined
To make our job more fun, whenever we have a concern with software, we call it a “bug”.
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

8. A note about parables Teaching Learning Retaining Applying knowledge
Share experiences
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

9. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

10. The Elevator Parable Weather in Montreal
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

11. The Elevator Parable Montreal Temperature
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

12. The Elevator Parable CNC Profile GPF
highest priority project, new business and technical model
Profile
critical last minute feature requested by customer for CNC
GPF
windows general protection fault, crash
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

13. Bug Priority How important is it? Urgent Not Urgent
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

14. The Elevator Parable Define Priority Scheme P1 P2 P3
____________________ P2 P3
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

15. The Elevator Parable Priority Scheme P1 P2 P3 Fix it now Fix it later
Do not fix it
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

16. Crayons Fun to draw pictures
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

17. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

18. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

19. The Elevator Parable News from The Boss Listen to The Boss
“CNC customer timetable has changed”
“We can wait for product delivery”
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

20. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

21. The Elevator Parable News from The V.P. Finance
Listen to The Shareholders
“Capitalize CNC for January”
“Value of work in capital when finished”
“Policy”
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

22. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

23. Bug Severity How much damage it causes severe not severe
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

24. The Elevator Parable Define Severity Scheme S1 S2 S3
____________________ S2 S3
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

25. The Elevator Parable Severity Scheme S1 S2 S3
Unusable no straight forward work around S2
Work around possible S3
Cosmetic
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

26. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

27. The Elevator Parable News from User Education
News from Product Management
Listen to The Users
“End Users cannot tolerate GPFs”
“End Users are Doctors”
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

28. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

29. The Elevator Parable News from The Development Lead
Listen to The Folks who write the code
“Profiler is for expert sys admin”
“Profiler is a prototype”
“Profiler will not be used by docs”
“Profiler is an editor for INI files”
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

30. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

31. The Elevator Parable News from The Developer The Guru
“Profiler prototype was demoed”
“To real sys admin folks”
“They really loved it”
“Crashed during demo”
“Work in process”
“Things are super!”
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

32. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

33. The Elevator Parable Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

34. The Elevator Parable Moral
Bugs are not Good or Bad
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

35. The Elevator Parable Moral
Some bugs are important
and have a high priority!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

36. The Elevator Parable Moral
Some bugs are dangerous
and have a high severity!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

37. The Elevator Parable Moral
Setting the priority and severity of a bug is a business decision
Changing business conditions impact the priority and severity of a bug!
Always review previous decisions in light of changing business context
ensure staff assigning priority and severity are aware of all relevant business drivers
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

38. The Elevator Parable Moral
And remember … don’t loose any sleep over rumors you overhear in elevators!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

39. Bug Workflow Seven Steps Identify key stakeholders
Learn about decisions
Define bug priority & severity
List steps when bug is found
Build bug flow state model
Get stakeholders “buy in”
Adapt bug flow as required
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

40. 1 Bug Workflow Identify key stakeholders
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

41. 2 Bug Workflow How is a decision made?
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

42. 3 Bug Workflow Define Priority and Severity Scheme
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

43. 4 Bug Workflow Define steps to follow
bug is discovered in testing or reported from the field
a bug report form is completed
the bug report form is reviewed
the bug report is added to the bug list
a decision is made, at a bug review meeting, about whether the bug should be fixed
if the bug is fixed then the software is re-tested to reconfirm that the bug has indeed been fixed
if the bug is not fixed (on purpose!) then a description of the work around is published or made available to help desk staff 4
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

44. 5 Bug Workflow Build State Model Entered Reviewed Prioritized Assigned
REFUSE
Entered
Reviewed
Prioritized
Assigned
CHECK
TRIAGE
DESIGNATE
CORRECT
MANDATE
Unassigned
Fixed
Closed
CONFIRM
FAILURE
Build State Model
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

45. 6 Bug Workflow Get stakeholder “buy-in”
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

46. 7 Bug Workflow Adapt as required
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

47. Finished? How do you know you are finished?
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© Robert Sabourin, 2003

48. You know you are finished when …
… the only bugs left are the ones that are acceptable (based on objective SQA input) ...
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003

49. You know you are finished when …
… the only bugs left are the ones that are acceptable (based on objective SQA input) …
At least for now!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019Wednesday, May 29, 2019
© Robert Sabourin, 2003