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Bug Management Process

Overview

This document defines the complete bug lifecycle from discovery to resolution in our SaaS CRM application.

Bug Classification

Severity Levels

Severity Description Response Time Resolution Time
S1 - Critical System down, data loss, security breach 15 minutes 4 hours
S2 - High Major feature broken, significant UX impact 2 hours 24 hours
S3 - Medium Feature partially working, workaround available 4 hours 3 days
S4 - Low Minor issue, cosmetic defect 24 hours Next sprint

Bug Categories

  • Functional: Feature not working as designed
  • Performance: Slow response, timeouts
  • Security: Vulnerabilities, data exposure
  • UI/UX: Display issues, usability problems
  • Integration: Third-party service failures
  • Data: Incorrect calculations, data corruption

Bug Reporting

1. Discovery Channels

Customer Reported

  1. Support Ticket System
  2. Auto-create GitHub issue
  3. Assign severity based on impact

  4. Link customer ticket to bug

  5. Direct Feedback

  6. Sales team reports
  7. Customer success escalations
  8. User forum reports

Internal Discovery

  1. QA Testing
  2. During feature testing
  3. Regression testing

  4. Performance testing

  5. Monitoring Alerts

  6. Error tracking (Sentry/Rollbar)
  7. Performance monitoring

  8. Uptime monitoring

  9. Developer Discovery

  10. During development
  11. Code review findings
  12. Production logs analysis

2. Bug Report Template

## Bug Report

**Title**: [Brief description]
**Severity**: S1/S2/S3/S4
**Category**: Functional/Performance/Security/UI/Integration/Data
**Environment**: Production/Staging/Development

### Description
[Detailed description of the issue]

### Steps to Reproduce
1. Step one
2. Step two
3. Step three

### Expected Behavior
[What should happen]

### Actual Behavior
[What actually happens]

### Impact
- Number of users affected:
- Business impact:
- Workaround available: Yes/No

### Screenshots/Logs
[Attach relevant screenshots or error logs]

### System Information
- Browser/Version:
- Operating System:
- User Role:
- Account Type:

### Additional Context
[Any other relevant information]

Bug Triage Process

Daily Triage Meeting

Time: 9:00 AM daily Duration: 15-30 minutes Participants: Dev Lead, QA Lead, Product Manager

Triage Checklist

  1. Review new bugs (last 24 hours)
  2. Verify severity classification
  3. Check for duplicates
  4. Assign priority
  5. Assign owner
  6. Set target resolution date

Assignment Rules

Ownership Matrix

Bug Type Primary Owner Backup Owner
Frontend UI Frontend Lead Senior Frontend Dev
Backend API Backend Lead Senior Backend Dev
Database DBA/Backend Lead Senior Backend Dev
Integration Integration Specialist Backend Lead
Security Security Lead CTO

Assignment Criteria

  1. Expertise: Assign to developer with relevant expertise
  2. Availability: Check current workload
  3. History: Previous work on related features
  4. Learning: Opportunity for skill development (S3/S4 only)

Bug Status Workflow

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> New: Bug Reported
    New --> Triaged: Triage Complete
    Triaged --> Assigned: Developer Assigned
    Assigned --> InProgress: Work Started
    InProgress --> InReview: Fix Submitted
    InReview --> Testing: Code Review Passed
    Testing --> Verified: QA Passed
    Testing --> Reopened: QA Failed
    Reopened --> InProgress: Rework
    Verified --> Closed: Released
    Closed --> [*]

Bug Fixing Process

1. Investigation Phase

Root Cause Analysis

  1. Reproduce the Issue
  2. Follow reported steps
  3. Test in multiple environments

  4. Document reproduction rate

  5. Identify Root Cause

  6. Code debugging
  7. Log analysis
  8. Database query review

  9. Performance profiling

  10. Impact Assessment

  11. Other affected features
  12. Data integrity concerns
  13. Performance implications

2. Implementation Phase

Fix Development

  1. Create Bug Fix Branch 

    git checkout -b bugfix/CRM-XXX-description

  2. Implement Fix

  3. Minimal code changes
  4. Follow coding standards

  5. Add defensive coding

  6. Add Tests

  7. Unit test for specific bug
  8. Regression test to prevent recurrence
  9. Integration test if applicable

3. Code Review

Review Checklist

  • Bug is actually fixed
  • No new bugs introduced
  • Tests are comprehensive
  • Code follows standards
  • Performance impact assessed
  • Documentation updated

4. Testing Phase

Testing Levels

  1. Developer Testing
  2. Verify fix locally
  3. Run automated tests

  4. Check edge cases

  5. QA Testing

  6. Verify fix in staging
  7. Regression testing

  8. Cross-browser/device testing

  9. UAT (if applicable)

  10. Customer verification for S1/S2
  11. Beta testing for complex fixes

Release & Deployment

Hotfix Process (S1/S2)

  1. Emergency Release 

    # Create hotfix from main
git checkout -b hotfix/CRM-XXX main

# After fix and testing
git checkout main
git merge hotfix/CRM-XXX
git tag -a v1.2.1 -m "Hotfix: Issue description"

  2. Deployment Steps

  3. Deploy to staging (5 min verification)
  4. Deploy to production
  5. Monitor for 30 minutes
  6. Update status page

Regular Release (S3/S4)

  • Include in next scheduled release
  • Batch with other fixes
  • Follow standard release process

Communication

Internal Communication

Microsoft Teams Channels

  1. #bugs-critical - S1/S2 bugs only 

    🚨 CRITICAL BUG: [CRM-123]
Description: Login system failing
Status: Investigating
Owner: @developer
ETA: 2 hours

  2. #bugs-general - All bug discussions

  3. #bug-releases - Fix deployment notifications

Customer Communication

For S1/S2 Bugs

  1. Immediate Notification
  2. Status page update
  3. Email to affected customers

  4. In-app notification

  5. Resolution Notification

  6. Detailed explanation
  7. Prevention measures
  8. Apology if appropriate

Communication Template

Subject: [Resolved] Issue with [Feature Name]

Dear Customer,

We identified and resolved an issue affecting [feature].

Issue: [Brief description]
Impact: [Time period and scope]
Resolution: [What was fixed]
Prevention: [Future prevention measures]

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Best regards,
CRM Support Team

Metrics & Reporting

Key Metrics

  1. Response Metrics
  2. Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)
  3. Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR)

  4. First Contact Resolution Rate

  5. Quality Metrics

  6. Bug discovery rate
  7. Bug reopen rate

  8. Escaped defects (found by customers)

  9. Volume Metrics

  10. Bugs by severity
  11. Bugs by category
  12. Bugs by component

Weekly Bug Report

## Weekly Bug Report - [Date]

### Summary
- New Bugs: X
- Resolved: Y
- Pending: Z

### Severity Breakdown
- S1: 0
- S2: 2
- S3: 5
- S4: 8

### Top Issues
1. [CRM-123] - Description - Status
2. [CRM-124] - Description - Status

### Trends
[Graph or commentary on trends]

### Action Items
- [Required actions for next week]

Prevention & Improvement

Post-Mortem Process (S1/S2)

  1. Timeline: Within 48 hours of resolution
  2. Participants: Dev team, QA, Product
  3. Document: Root cause, impact, prevention
  4. Action Items: Concrete improvement steps

Continuous Improvement

  1. Monthly Bug Review
  2. Pattern analysis
  3. Process improvements

  4. Training needs

  5. Quarterly Quality Goals

  6. Reduce bug rate by X%
  7. Improve MTTR
  8. Increase test coverage

Tools & Resources

  • Bug Tracking: GitHub Issues
  • Error Monitoring: Sentry/Rollbar
  • Communication: Microsoft Teams
  • Status Page: status.ourcrm.com
  • Documentation: This repository

Last Updated: January 2025 Version: 1.0.0