Debug It!

Close the Loop

The project that you are working on will have its own set of norms, for example:

• Coding standards

• Testing standards

• Documentation standards

• Reporting/tracking processes

• Design guidelines

• Performance requirements

Whenever you fix a bug, you need to bear these in mind. Do you need to update the end-user documentation as a result of the fix? Or the change log for the next release? Does the work need to be tracked against a particular client or project? Do you need to resolve a ticket in your bug-tracking package? Or hand it off to the QA department (and what supporting materials do they need)?

So, that’s it—we’ve covered the life cycle of a bug all the way from reproduction through diagnosis, fixing and reflection. ...