Atlas › 11 Manual Testing Fundamentals › Severity vs Priority☰ Read as one page
Severity vs Priority
6.1OverviewThese are independent axes. A bug can be high severity but low priority, or low severity but high priority. Confusing the two is one of the…6.2DefinitionsSeverity measures the technical impact of the defect. How badly does it damage functionality? Severity is a factual observation about what…6.3The Two-Axis MatrixHigh Severity + High Priority (top-left): The obvious emergencies. Production is down, users are losing data, security is breached…6.4Who Decides?Severity is a factual observation about the bug's technical impact. The QA engineer who found and reproduced the bug is best positioned to…6.5Common Mistakes"This is a severity 1 bug, fix it now!"6.6Severity/Priority in Bug Tracking ToolsJira has separate "Priority" and "Severity" fields (severity must be added as a custom field). Use both: - Priority: Blocker / Critical /…6.7Triage MeetingsBug triage is the regular meeting where the team reviews new bugs and assigns priority. Effective triage:6.8Practical ExerciseFor each of the following bugs, assign both a severity level and a priority level, and justify your choices:6.9Key Takeaways- Severity is technical impact (assessed by QA). Priority is business urgency (set by product/management). - Keep them as separate fields…