Over my decade plus in technology, I‘ve executed test campaigns across everything from tiny mobile apps to massive enterprise systems responsible for billions in revenue. In total, I‘ve covered over 3,500 unique device and browser combinations – from outdated BlackBerry phones to latest iPhone models.
And at this scale, issues inevitably crop up that threaten schedules, reputations and even end user safety. Mastering the art of detecting, documenting and resolving these "incidents" has been hard won but essential knowledge.
In this handbook drawn from years of battlefield experience, I‘ll take you through everything needed to lead testing teams when the fires erupt.
What is an Incident?
An incident refers to any event during testing activities where the system exhibits unexpected behavior compared to requirements or specifications.
As testers, our core charter is figuring out what can go wrong and surfacing these scenarios before customers do. And in my day-to-day work leading test engagements, here‘s how these incidents tend to manifest:
Bugs
The classic coding defects. These happen when the logic executed differs from original intentions. Severity varies wildly – from typos to catastrophic crashes.
Environment Issues
Problems with supporting infrastructure. Test hardware misconfigurations, network outages, database corruption or storage failures.
Data Errors
Using incorrect or inadequate information as inputs to validate the system. Leads to incomplete coverage.
Requirement Flaws
When requirements miss the actual user or business need. Software meets the spec but fails real world expectations.
Productivity Blockers
Incidents obstructing testing work itself. Like issues with test case management tools, environment access, missing logging.
Based on industry benchmarks, over 50% of incidents originate from environments and productivity blockers versus just code defects. Quality transcends writing flawless code.
Why Care About Managing Incidents?
I know. Discovering issues means more work triaging, reporting and driving resolution.
But doing this well has massive upside:
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Prevents Catastrophes – Ignoring problems has triggered some of history‘s worst software failures. Catching incidents early is crucial.
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Boosts Customer Loyalty – Research shows 60% of mobile users abandon apps after just 1 incident. Rigorously resolving issues retains users.
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Enables Rapid Delivery – Modern CI/CD requires constant code deployments. Quality issues amplify downstream with more releases. Early detection and remediation lets teams ship faster safely.
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Unblocks Productivity – When testing is stalled by external blockers, test velocity tanks along with engineer morale. Restoring environments keeps work moving.
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Drives Accountability – Detailed incident tracing upholds responsibility for failures from code up through impacted business metrics.
In my experience, proactively detecting and resolving testing incidents separates high and low performance teams. Let‘s explore how to uplevel these capabilities.
Crafting Effective Incident Reports
My team once missed a nasty crash on iOS Safari during peak holiday traffic that took down an ecommerce site for nearly 3 hours. We lost millions in revenue.
The culprit? Poor incident reports that lacked sufficient details to reproduce the browser specific issue.
Effective incident reports should:
- Precisely Document Steps – Exact test data, configurations, quantitative analytics critical for efficient resolution
- Use Accessible Language – Technical jargon hinders common understanding
- Include Screenshots – Images convey tremendous contextual details text alone misses
- Identify Business Impact – Helps convey appropriate urgency and priority
- Tag Relevant Teams – Link groups needed to resolve for coordination
- Provide Repro Instructions – Easy ways to retrigger issues enables fix validation
For mobile apps, I mandate logs from tools like Appium and TestProject as well as device model specifics. For web apps, we attach browser dev tools snapshots and HAR files.
The right information, clearly presented, transforms incident reports from paperwork into catalysts for action.
A Blueprint for Mature Incident Processes
But well documented tickets alone are insufficient. Teams need institutional processes that cover the incident lifecycle end-to-end:
Triaging
Newly reported incidents first get evaluated for severity, priority and reproducibility. This allows staff to escalate truly blocker items instantly before diving deeper.
I use a simple 1-5 scoring rubric across dimensions like user impact, failure likelihood and business disruption. This makes rational decisions easier even with overflowing queues.
Root Cause Analysis
Once able to reproduce the incident, we conduct structured 5 Whys and Ishikawa analysis to pinpoint core process breakdowns. Going beyond just surface symptoms.
I mandate we track whether issues derive from test escapes, new features, environment changes or regression. This metadata helps illuminate systemic vulnerabilities.
Remediation Planning
Next we construct issue specific remediation plans examining tradeoffs in effort, risk and velocity impact. These help guide realistic fixes balancing business priorities.
For simple patches, I advocate rapid turnarounds under 24 hrs. But for complex architectural changes, we allow several weeks based on coordination overhead.
Status Tracking
Using Jira and TestRail, we maintain real-time visibility into incident state across triage, assignment, resolution and verification. This prevents things stalling silently.
We generate integrated reports showing breakdowns by application, platform, team and lifecycle phase. I review these weekly to spot bottlenecks early.
Regression Testing
Before closing incidents, we first rerun original failing test cases to validate fixes along with new scripts to check for side effects. No change gets deployed before regression passes.
We use automation to easily rerun cross browser and device test suites after deployments. This safety net has prevented so many regressions.
Driving Improvements
Finally, we feed incident metrics like escape rates, lead times and reopen numbers into statistical process control charts. Failures here signal processes requiring intervention.
My team also conducts quarterly incident review boards to distill patterns and derive preventative actions for the organization. We focus fixes on systems versus individual instances.
Getting these foundational processes engrained into team habits and tooling sets up a self improving loop enabling incident resilience at scale.
Key Challenges in Managing Incidents
However, even seasoned teams struggle with some inherent friction points:
Information Overload – Hundreds of tickets pour in daily. Identifying true Problems-in-Need-of-Attention requires skill.
Cross-Team Coordination – So many players spread across functions. Test, dev, ops, product owners. Aligning everyone proves difficult.
Lack of Test Automation – Manual triage, reporting and verification cap throughput. Impossible to address incidents quickly without automation.
Issue Rediscovery – Without shared knowledge, previously solved failures resurface incurring costly duplication.
Incomplete Root Cause Analysis – Focusing only on proximate issues not deeper process drivers limits continuous improvements.
By understanding these pitfalls, organizations can selectively employ priority scoring, integrated platforms, automation and shared incident databases to scale.
Now let‘s discuss recommendations for putting this all into practice.
Guidance for Boosting Incident Handling In Your Team
Evolving raw enthusiasts into an elite incident response unit takes considerable investment – but pays dividends for the entire organization.
Here are my top suggestions based on lessons learned over many years of battles in the test trenches:
Start With Leadership Buy-In – Get alignment from management on the importance of incident management and lobby for appropriate staffing. Success hinges on prioritization.
Formalize Processes – Move beyond ad-hoc responses by laying out a clearly defined methodology for your team encompassing the end-to-end lifecycle.
Integrate Tools – Break down data silos by connecting monitoring, test management, ticket tracking, communications and other solutions via APIs and unifying dashboards.
Build Automation Layers – Accelerate manual tasks like report generation, environment teardown/rebuild and regression testing through scripting and tools.
Incentivize the Right Behaviors – Beyond raw detection numbers, recognize those who take ownership through resolution, spotlight systemic gaps and mentor colleagues.
Drive Continuous Improvements – Continually refine processes informed by incident metrics, auditor findings and team feedback. Evolve team capabilities along with company scale.
Evangelize Beyond Your Team – The benefits span beyond quality – share learnings through incident review boards, newsletters and tech talks. Draw the connections to user experience and engineering efficiency.
With the right vision, people, tools and culture – unhandled incidents transforming into catastrophes moves from inevitability to impossibility.
In Closing
Bugs happen. Crashes happen. Unwanted surprises always emerge given software complexity.
But through carefully crafted reports, supported by institutional processes, technology pioneers turn incidents into catalysts for reliability and resilience.
I hope this guide drawn from my own experiences managing incidents for 10+ years and 3000+ devices provides you the tactics and mindsets to lead your team through the turbulent but rewarding journey towards quality.
Stay calm out there and happy testing!
