Thursday, January 3, 2019

Sometimes Bug Severity Isn't the Most Important Thing

Generally you need to take into account both the consequence of a software defect as well as how often it occurs when doing bug triage.  (See: Using a Risk Analysis Table to Categorize Bug Priority)

But an important special case is one in which the consequence is a business consequence such as brand tarnish rather than a spectacular software crash.   I used to use a hypothetical example of the audience's company name being misspelled on the system display to illustrate the point.  Well, it's not hypothetical any more!

Lamborghini sells a quarter-million dollar SUV with numerous software defects, including spelling the company name as "Lanborghini"   Guess which defect gets the press?


And it turns out that a software update not only didn't solve the typo, but also broke a bunch more functionality.  

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