What is Defect Priority?
Defect Priority, also called Bug Priority, is the degree of impact a defect has on the business. The higher the defect's impact on business, the higher its priority. Defect priority also determines the order in which developers fix bugs.
A product manager determines the priority of the defect.
Even a small defect can have a significant impact on the overall business.
A typo in the headline of a new e-commerce website doesn't impact the end-user functionality. But it dents the site's reputation and can mean losing business from hundreds of users.
Defect Priority Types
You can categorize defect priority into three types. We'll look at each one with a real-world example.
- High
- High priority defects are those that impact the business in a big way. They need immediate attention and need to be addressed immediately — for example, the checkout button not working on an e-commerce website.
- Medium
- Medium priority defects are those which have a low impact on business. They can be fixed in the upcoming release and do not require immediate attention — for example, the inability to go to the next page of the product reviews section on an e-commerce website.
- Low
- Low priority defects are those that have a negligible impact on the business. They can be fixed when nothing else is of priority — for example, the inability to view tracking details on old orders.
Defect Priority versus Defect Severity
Defect priority is often confused with defect severity. Defect priority is determined based on the defect's impact on the business, while its severity is indicative of its effect on the end-users.