Software QA Terminology: Defect Triage Meeting

In this post of Software QA Terminology series, we will talk about Defect Triage Meeting aka Bug Triage Meeting aka Bug Councils. The term “Triage” comes from the French verb trier which means to separate, sort, shift or select. Just like this definition, these meeting serves the same purpose of managing the defects.

Definition:
Defect Triage Meetings are project meetings in which open bugs are divided into categories. These meetings are held to analyze defects and to derive actions to be taken on them. Basically priority and severity are defined for the bugs. Other activities involve assigning or rejecting new defects created from the last triage meeting. Apart from that, existing defects are reassigned if need arises.Defect Triage MeetingProcedure:
Generally, below procedure is followed for Defect Triage Meeting.

  • QA lead sends out a bug report with the new defects introduced since last meeting.
  • QA lead calls out a meeting.
  • During meeting, each defect is analyzed to see whether correct priority and severity are assigned to it. Priority and severity are corrected if need be.
  • Defects are discussed by the team. This involves discussing complexity of the defect, risks,
  • Assignment, rejection, reassignment of defects is done. Updates are captured in bug tracking system.
  • After meeting completion, minutes of meetings are sent out to involved parties.

Defect Triage Meeting goals:
The goal of Triage remains the same: evaluate, prioritize and assign the resolution of defects. As a minimum, you want to validate defect severities, make changes as needed, prioritize resolution of the defects, and assign resources.

Frequency:
Frequency of these meetings depends on project situation. Multiple factors will play role in deciding the frequency of Defect Triage Meetings. These factors could be:

  • Project schedule
  • Number of defects
  • Impact on schedules of team members and their availability
  • Project health in terms of defects

Typically, Defect Triage Meetings takes place 2-3 times a week.

Involved parties:
Below project members are involved in Defect Triage Meetings.

  • Project Manager
  • Test Lead
  • Tech Lead
  • Development Lead/Developer

As you can derive, Defect Triage Meetings serves important purpose of managing defects from time to time. Let us know how do you look at it in comments.

With considerable inputs from

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