MSF for Agile Software Development

Defects

Defect

 

Overview

A defect defines a problem with the system.  Defects may be created by team members, customers, testers or anyone who has a view into the application.  Just as backlog items, defects are prioritized by the product owner and placed into sprints.  Defects have a vetting process called triage which is used make sure defects have been correctly identified.

 

States and Transitions


New


A defect is new when it is first created.  Create a new defect when work has been identified from either the user stories or another source.


New to Active

 

Investigate

A defect may be assigned to a team member for validation or analysis before it is assigned to a sprint.

Accepted

A defect may be made active when it has been validated and assigned to a team member.


Active


A defect is active when it has been reviewed by the scrum master and team and has been targeted for further analysis or has been accepted as valid work for the project.


Active to Closed

Overtaken

A defect may be closed if the item has been overtaken by events in the project.

Duplicate

A defect may be closed if the item is the duplicate of another defect.

Postponed

A defect may be closed if the project team decides to postpone the work.

Removed

A defect may be closed if it has been removed from the project backlog.


Active to Resolved

Complete (No Verification)

A defect may be marked as resolved once the work has been completed and may or may not need to be verified.

Complete (Requires Verification)

A defect may be marked as resolved once the work has been completed and may or may not need to be verified.


Resolved


A defect is resolved when the work that it specified has been completed but not yet tested or  reviewed.


Resolved to Active

Verification Failed

A defect may need to be reactivated if verification of the work completed is not successful.


Resolved to Closed

Verified

A defect may be closed once the work completed has been successfully verified.


Closed


A defect is closed when the work that it specifies has either been completed or is no longer needed for the the project.


Closed to Active

Reactivated

A defect may need to be reactivated for a variety of reasons.

Closed in Error

A defect may have been closed by accident and need to be reopened.

 

Fields

Title

Required. The title provides a concise description of the defect. The title should be descriptive enough to allow the team to understand what the potential defect is.

Area

The area is used to group the defect into an appropriate feature or team area. The area must be a valid node in the project hierarchy.

Sprint

The iteration in which the defect will be fixed.

Assigned To

The current person that the defect is assigned to. This may be any of the project team members.

Priority

The importance of the defect to the project team.  Higher priority defects should be dealt with first.

Triage

The status of the evaluation of the defect for validity.  Defects are triaged by scrum masters or team members before they are assigned to an Active state.  A defect may have a triage value of  "Pending", "More Info", "Info Recv" or "Triage". 

State

Required.  Used to determine the status of the defect in its lifecycle.  A defect can be in the New,  Active, Resolved or Closed state.

Reason

The reason a defect is in the current state.

Blocked

A flag to denote that progress on the defect has been stopped.

Description

This field provides a description of the defect, any project exposure, and potential mitigations.

History

The history field contains the set of changes to the work item.

Links

Links to related work items, hyperlinks, changesets, or source code files.

Attachments

Attach related files providing additional documentation around the defect.

Issue

Used to highlight the defect as an issue.

Found in Build

The build in which the defect was found.

Resolved in Build

The build in which the defect was fixed.

Name

The name of the test that uncovered the defect.  This is supplied if a defect is created from a test.

Id

The id of the test that uncovered the defect.  This is supplied if a defect is created from a test.

Path

The full path of the test that uncovered the defect.  This is supplied if a defect is created from a test.

 

 

 

 

 

     

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