What do you understand by severity and priority of a defect?

Answer 1

Severity and Priority are the attributes of a defect. If we talk about 'Severity of a defect' then it describes how the defect is impacting the functionality of software product whereas 'Priority of a defect' indicates the importance of the defect and when it should be addressed or fixed.

• In the software project, the severity of a defect should be defined by QA whereas the priority should be defined by Product Owner.
• Severity of the defect can be categorized into four levels: blocker, critical, major & minor. Similarly, Priority of the defect can be high, medium & low.

An organization that provides software testing services needs to ensure that while opening defects, each defect should be assigned with right severity. Incorrect severity and priority mapping will impact overall STLC process and the whole product.