10 Reasons Why You Fix Bugs
(and Usability Issues)
as Soon as You Find Them

Great poster on why you fix bugs as soon as you find them. Many of the same cases could be made for usability issues (at least the medium to large sized ones). Here’s the short list (via uTest):

  1. Unfixed bugs camouflage other bugs. (So true for usability issues! This is why I love RITE testing and similar methods; you get those Big Rocks out of the way so you can discover others.)
  2. Unfixed bugs suggest quality isn’t important. (Amen, especially with regards to usability issues.)
  3. Discussing unfixed bugs is a waste of time.
  4. Unfixed bugs lead to duplicate effort.
  5. Unfixed bugs lead to unreliable metrics.
  6. Unfixed bugs distract the entire team.
  7. Unfixed bugs hinder short-notice releases.
  8. Unfixed bugs lead to inaccurate estimates.
  9. Fixing familiar code is easier than unfamiliar code.
  10. Fixing a bug today costs less than tomorrow. (Very true.)

posted by Ted Boren on Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012
tagged with usability, testing, qa