Managing priorities (bugs) as a developer Aug26 '08

As a developer, I'm used to dealing with bugs and issues in applications. Sure as the wind blows, there will always be bugs. It's just the nature of building applications.

I attack bugs as they are presented to me by users or internal application testers (or just anyone who catches it).

Sometimes resolving one bug leads to another (or many more). Actually, quite often this happens, and for developers, it presents a small dilemma.

Should we keep trying to resolve all the bugs/issues we find, stemming from that initial bug/issue, or just resolve that initial issue, and wait for someone to point out the new ones?

The latter seems wrong (and absolutely lazy), but it's often the right approach.

As a developer, your priorities are number one. If you were to dedicate 100% of your attention on every little bug you come across, you'd have no time for the real issues - the issues that people see (and have already reported). Just because you see a bug, that doesn't mean users will. And if users don't see it, initially, then it's probably not a high priority to fix.

Your time as a developer should be spent responding to bug reports already submitted. Once you resolve all of those, then it's OK to go back and fix those little things you noticed earlier.

Of course, this is all a "judgement call," so be sure to decide wisely. If it's a glaring, obvious bug, you should probably fix it right away.

Categories: Bugs , Development , Programming

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matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

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