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Defect Triaging In Scrum: How Is It Organized In A

Scrum Setup
Updated On: June 18, 2023

Introduction to Defect Triaging:

In our previous tutorial, we introduced you to the Scrum Events – Sprint, Sprint
Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review & Sprint Retrospection. We discussed the
concepts like time boxing, participants, and activities for each of the Scrum Event.

The next in store for our readers is Defect Triaging – A concept which isn’t new to
the QA folks but we will try to understand the importance of Defect Triaging and
how is it organized in a Scrum Setup.

So let’s start with understanding ‘What is Defect Triaging?’.

What You Will Learn: [hide]

Defect Triaging
Participants
Roles and Responsibilities
 Defect Triaging Process in a Nutshell
Conclusion
Recommended Reading

Defect Triaging
Defect Triaging is a formal meeting where all the defects of the current Sprint are
discussed and triaged i.e. Prioritized.

The QA Developers in the Development Team demonstrates and explains the defects
to the rest of the Scrum Team. Based on everyone’s input, the defects are then
organized and classified into different categories.

Some of the important deciding factors for categorizing these Defects could be
Severity, Risk associated, Business Impact, Occurrence, Nature etc. Based on these
categories, we then decide how soon the defect needs to be resolved.

Participants
The Defect Triaging meeting is participated by all the Scrum Team Members.

The Product Owner

The Scrum Master
The Development Team

There may be a possibility that the Stakeholders (Internal or External) may also be
included in the Defect Triaging Meeting.
Let us now discuss and establish a clear distinction around the Roles and
Responsibilities of each of the Scrum Team Member during the Defect Triaging
Meeting.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Development Team

Developers explain and demonstrate the Defect.

Developers would also focus on the root cause analysis.
Developers would provide an insight on the application areas impacted by the
Defect.
A combined call is made as to whether the defect is acceptable or should be
rejected.
Helps in Prioritization of the Defect.
Expresses the complexity involved in fixing the Defect.
Assign the Defects amongst themselves for Fixing and Retesting.

Scrum Master

Scrum Master is also responsible for organizing the Defect Triaging Meeting.
Scrum Master may also facilitate the meeting if asked by the rest of the team
members.
Take notes if there are any impediments that the team may encounter for the
Defect Fixes.
Checks that the meeting is time-boxed and does not deviate from the focus.
Classifies the Defects to particular Defect Classes by assigning their Priority
and Severity.
Along with the team, the Scrum Master also brings the improvement areas on
the table.

Product Owner
 Has a major stake in Prioritization of the Defects that would determine how
latest the defect can be resolved.
For the defects, having a medium priority, the Product Owner can plan to place
them in the Product Backlog to be picked up for the subsequent releases.
Allows the team to understand how the business would be impacted because
of the Defect.
Product Owner takes on the end user’s perspective and sentiments while
discussing the defects.

Defect Triaging Process in a Nutshell

All the Scrum Team Members get together in a meeting room for a Defect Triaging
Meeting. Anyone from the Developer’s Team can take a lead and start discussing the
Defects in detail. The team then discusses each of the defects for its validity.

The defect is rejected if it is found to be invalid. If the Defect is a valid one, then the
team checks for the complexity of fixing the defect and the business impact it would
make if left unresolved in the system.

Everyone else in the team now analyzes and evaluates the bug for right classification
and makes sure that the right Priority and Severity is assigned to the Defect.

If the right Priorities and Severities are not assigned, then the team will reset them to
the correct ones. Product Owner along with the team now will decide over which
Defects to be fixed on priority and which can be assigned to the subsequent releases.

During a defect triaging meeting, the defects are analyzed and evaluated by the
entire Scrum Team. The Team then assigns the correct Severity and Priority to these
Defects.
Post the discussion and scrutiny, now comes the time when the Defect assignment is
done. Under this activity, one or more Developers would be assigned to fix the Defect.
Another Developer would be assigned to test the defect.

Another very crucial activity is to examine the root cause analysis for each of the
Defect and to come up with a process improvement plan in order to minimize the
likelihood of having similar defect again in the system.

All this is captured in a tracking system. For teams working under Agile, JIRA has
been the favorite most. Therefore, at the end of the meeting, the team has a list of
valid defects with correct Priorities and Severities assigned to them. The team also
has a process improvement plan that should be adopted for the subsequent sprints.

The Defect Triaging meeting is scheduled whenever a couple of Defects have been
found and needs a discussion. Anyone who thinks that the Defect Triaging Meeting is
required can raise a request for the meeting.

In a common circumstance, the Defect Triaging meeting can help 2-3 times during a
Sprint. But there is definitely no rule to it and the meeting can happen whenever the
need arises.

Conclusion
That is all we had in store regarding Defect Triaging Meeting. Defect Triaging Meeting
is considered to be a step up activity to increase the agility amongst the Scrum Team
Members. It has become an integral part of the Scrum process owing to the benefits
it produces.

In our upcoming tutorial, we are going to discuss the importance of Self Sufficient
Scrum Teams.

We will also lay emphasis on what Self Sufficiency means in the Scrum Setup and
how a team can evolve to become a Self Sufficient Team.

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Recommended Reading
Self-Sufficient Scrum Teams: How to Create a Self-Sufficient Team?
Scrum Team Roles and Responsibilities: Scrum Master and Product Owner
JIRA Scrum Board Tutorial: Scrum Handling with Jira For Managing the Sprint
Scrum Artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog and Product Increments
Agile Scrum Online Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Agile Scrum
What is Defect Based Testing Technique?
Defect Management Process: How to Manage a Defect Effectively
What is Defect/Bug Life Cycle in Software Testing? Defect Life Cycle Tutorial

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