Severity
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Priority
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In simple words,
severity depends on the harshness of the bug.
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In simple words,
priority depends on the urgency with which the bug needs to be fixed.
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It is an internal
characteristic of the particular bug. Examples of High severity bugs include
the application fails to start, the application crashes or causes data loss
to the user.
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It is an external
(that is based on someone's judgment) characteristic of the bug.
Examples of high priority bugs are the application does not allow any user to log in, a particular functionality is not working or the client logo is incorrect. As you can see in the above example, a high priority bug can have a high severity, a medium severity or a low severity. |
Its value is based
more on the needs of the end-users.
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Its value is based
more on the needs of the business.
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Its value takes
only the particular bug into account. For example, the bug may be in an
obscure area of the application but still have a high severity.
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Its value depends
on a number of factors (e.g. the likelihood of the bug occurring, the
severity of the bug and the priorities of other open bugs).
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Its value is
(usually) set by the bug reporter.
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Its value is
initially set up by the bug reporter. However, the value can be changed by
someone else (e.g. the management or developer) based on their discretion.
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Its value is
objective and therefore less likely to change.
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Its value is
subjective (based on judgment). The value can change over a period of time
depending on the change in the project situation.
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A high severity
bug may be marked for a fix immediately or later.
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A high priority
bug is marked for a fix immediately.
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The team usually
needs only a handful of values (e.g. Showstopper, High, Medium and Low) to
specify severity.
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In practice, new
values may be designed (typically by the management) on a fairly constant
basis. This may happen if there are too many high priority defects. Instead
of a single High value, new values may be designed such as Fix by the end of
the day, Fix in next build and Fix in the next release.
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Monday, 15 April 2013
Difference between Severity and Priority?
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