Why should we do a Bug Bash in software development?
a very useful activity to help us find bugs 🐞
Hi everyone. I would like to share with you guys the activity that we do at ThoughtWorks. It’s called Bug Bash. I heard Bug Bash for the first time when I joined TWU (ThoughtWorks University). After I finished TWU, I found this activity also has been applied in client projects.
What is Bug Bash?
Bug Bash is an activity to find bugs in a software application (website, mobile application, etc.). By providing a software application with environment and rules prepared by QAs to the team including POs, BAs, XDs, Devs, and other roles, and use them.
Example:
Owner & Pair | Device | Browser | Flow | Role
--------------|------------|---------|------------------|-------
QA & Dev | Mobile iOS | Safari | Order management | admin
PO & XD | Desktop | Chrome | Order management | admin
BA & QA | Desktop | Firefox | Order management | user
Why should we do a Bug Bash?
In my opinion, everyone has different experiences and ways of using software applications so they will have their own methods to look for bugs. Because of using different methods, we might find the wrong thing in our application. Therefore, Bug Bash can assist the team to go in the same direction and help find unexpected bugs easily and quickly.
When we run a Bug Bash?
After QAs test our software in each sprint, it’s time to release our software. We will run this activity before a software release to do end-to-end testing again to ensure our software application is bug-free.
What should we do after we find bugs?
We should discuss and clarify issue(s) within our team to ensure that is a bug or not and how it happens. We should do it within a day we found bugs because we might forget about how to reproduce these bugs.
Don’t forget to record your screen while you do Bug Bash
The next process is whole issues from Bug Bash. It will be on our board. Devs will pick each ticket and fix it.
Advantages
- Be able to find bugs faster.
- Be able to help new joiners in the team understand our software application flow and function.
- Be able to build a good relationship with client and team. During a Bug Bash running, we will pair with our client to share each perspective of finding bugs.
Bonus
When I joined TWU, I got a tip and trick from another team. This tip and trick are to prepare a reward which is a Zoom background for the winner who can find the most bugs. This is a motivation for making your team have more participation in this session.
Conclusion
Bug Bash is a very useful and short session that we can do together with a team to find bugs in a software application. We collaborate with a team that had different experiences and perspectives to find the bugs together.
Thank you for reading this blog. Hope it can help your team to find unexpected bugs 😊
