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Bug attributes: Priority & Severity

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Priority and Severity are the most important attributes that should be assigned to a bug report while logging it in Jira. They play a vital role in identifying and addressing issues, allowing for efficient bug tracking and fixing. Сorrectly defined Priority and Severity levels help the team go through the release scheduling process and prevent critical issues from being overlooked.

DEFINITION:

Priority is an attribute that determines how quickly the defect needs to be fixed based on the importance of the business. (In what order should a developer fix the bug? Should we fix it now, or can it wait? )

Severity is the degree of impact that a defect has on the functionality of the tested component or system. (How critical the bug is and what is the influence of the defect on the software? )

Сonclusion: Severity relates more to the technical part and the priority to the organizational one.

Bug priority classification:

Priority Level

Description

High

the high-priority defect must be immediately fixed (ASAP). It is assigned to critical issues that negatively affect the functionality or company’s business and should be corrected first.

Medium

it’s the standard priority defined by default in the bug-tracking tool. It’s assigned to the bugs less urgent than high-priority defects and can be fixed when the developers have the bandwidth to take them up. Such bugs can be resolved either in the same release or the next.

Low

the low priority is assigned to the bugs that don’t affect the functionality. They are fixed last when there is time and resources for it.

Bug severity classification:

Severity Level

Description

Samples

Blocker

The system cannot be used. Critical failure that completely blocks test execution or project/part of the project at all.

  • It’s impossible to add products to the cart

  • It’s impossible to proceed to the checkout flow

  • Mini-cart disappears, cart page isn’t opened

  • The user isn’t able to pass the login with valid credentials

Critical

A significant functional defect that prevents finalizing the testing procedure. It indicates that important functionality fails, but there are workarounds.

  • Accordions aren’t expanded

  • Wrong validation behavior is applied to the input fields

  • An error occurs when the user adds a product to the cart from the Wishlist

Major

A substantial bug that impacts functionality and requires urgent attention.

  • Wrong displaying of alternative images carousel

  • Navigation arrows don’t work for the carousel on mobile

  • There is no field validation (in case it’s required)

Minor

Indicates an issue that doesn’t affect core functionality. A minor impact that doesn’t break the business logic. (user interface problem).

  • Incorrect font size/type is used for content

Trivial

An aesthetic or minor bug that doesn’t affect usability.

  • Minor glitches

  • Typos in the text

The Severity and Priority Examples

High Severity & High Priority

  • Server error occurs when a user tries to access the main page

  • The “Login” button of the login form isn’t clickable, after specifying user credentials

From the technical perspective: the functionality doesn’t work and the website is partially unavailable – Blocker Severity Level

From a business perspective: users will avoid websites on which not all functions are available to them. Businesses will be impacted.

Low Severity & High Priority

  • The buttons of the Hero Banner overlap each other. But they are clickable and redirect to the appropriate page.

  • The company logo has a spelling mistake on the homepage.

From the technical perspective: functionality works, but the user experience isn’t good

From a business perspective: it’s a drawback from the reputation point

High Severity & Low Priority

  • The main page of the site is rendered in wrong by old browsers. (overlapped text, empty carousel tiles, the logo isn’t loaded, page layout is broken).

  • Clicking the link in one of the blog articles triggers the Server Error.

From a technical perspective: It affects the proper website functioning and user navigation on the site or even down the server (2nd sample)

From a business perspective: The browser version is outdated and the percentage of visitors is low OR the link is on a deep page and a small percentage of users click on it.

Low Severity vs Low Priority

  • The margins and padding of some components don’t correspond to the design.

  • Spelling issues in paragraph (not on the cover page, heading, title).

Trivial issue from both: technical and business perspectives.

Please, find the common issues list with already defined severity levels in Google Sheets. You can refer to it during bug creation.

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