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The vagueness of the “it doesn’t work” report means less than nothing — the issue could be literally anything — the website could be down, the signup screen could be broken, the app could unwittingly be taking naked selfies of the user and e-mailing it to all their friends — there’s just no way of being able to tell.
Like it or not, mistakes are an inevitable part of all software.
Many mistakes can take hours to be corrected and it is impossible to deduce what the problem is without a good report of the problem.
Reporting Bugs — the Right Way
So here is how to write a bug report that helps narrow down the problem, makes developers happy and streamlines the process of making your software just… work.
Bug Summary
What is the problem? A bug summary should provide a quick snapshot of what exactly the issue is. It has to be precise.
Try to find the right words to describe the summary that would give the information directly. Generic statements like “not working properly”, “not working as expected” etc., must be avoided.
Where is the problem? If it’s a website, copy and paste the URL. If it’s not, give the name of the screen you are on.
