Volume Does Not Mean Cutting Corners

Often when you're doing a test, you find several things in one area. You may find eight different login bugs, for example, or there may be seven different issues going on when you get the system to an overly loaded state. This kind of bug clustering is generally not surprising.

However, just because you now have a fairly large number of things to log does not mean you get to cut corners on logging them. Each bug must still be able to stand on its own. After all, six months from now when you see something similar you won't look at the cluster of bugs first; you'll look at the single most similar bug first. Plus, anyone else who goes to look at the bug will ask you the basic questions you didn't answer, and then you'll have to go look them up (there goes any time you "saved").

No matter how high your volume gets, do not cut corners.

If it's bugs, don't forget the system configuration and version information. If it's a customer issue, don't forget to get all relevant logs (not just the log of the proximate cause). If it's a bug verification, don't forget to put the other things you tested - regression tests, for example.

You wouldn't cut corners if you only had one thing to do. Don't use having a lot of things to do as an excuse to change your work. Keep your standards up!