| To keep the bug report
life-cycle simple, use a resolution field to specify how problems are resolved. Possible
resolutions include: Fixed, Won't Fix, Not Reproducible, Duplicate,
By Design and External. Fixed -- the bug was fixed by a modification to source code.
Won't Fix -- a decision was
made not to fix the bug. This is a good way to handle trivial bugs which would be too
expensive to fix. It also handles new feature requests reported as bugs which won't be
implemented.
Not Reproducible
-- the bug can't be reproduced. This can happen when insufficient information is
provided to reproduce the bug, or if the bug was already fixed. By resolving it, it will
go back to the tester for verification. If the bug still exists, the tester can fail it
and provide better reproduction steps.
Duplicate -- the
bug has already been reported. However, make sure you don't resolve both bugs as duplicate
8^).
By Design -- this
means the person reporting the bug was mistaken about how the software should work and
that the software is working the way it should be. However, a bug resolved like this could
be a sign that the specification is unclear or that the user interface is confusing.
External -- this means the
bug is caused by an object or circumstance external to the software. This usually means
it's Microsoft's fault (wink).
Some people suggest Postponed as a possible resolution. I
disagree. A bug resolved as a Postponed bug will move to the closed state and that will be
the end of it. If it's really your intention to fix the bug later (in a service pack for
example), give it a status of Postponed instead of Resolved.
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Tracking Guidelines |
