In Scrum, if a developer found a bug in production or development, can they create an issue and assign themselves? Is it ideal?
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1To avoid closure, please add more context to this question. As it stands, it's too vague to invite anything more than an opinion, especially since developers discovering "bugs in production" is rarely a thing in the typical Scrum framework.– Todd A. Jacobs ♦Dec 26, 2021 at 21:47
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Notice you're asking three different things here. One is to report an issue. Other is to assign it to oneself. You're also mentioning PROD and Dev, which are two different contexts. Not entering into the specific motivation behind the question, what are you trying to achieve by having an answer for this question? Was there any debate about what Scrum says a team should do in a situation like this or is there someone looking for a validation of an opinion?– Tiago Cardoso ♦Dec 27, 2021 at 10:27
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1 Answer
In Scrum, the team's work is represented in two places - the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog.
The Product Owner is accountable for the management of the Product Backlog. Managing the Product Backlog includes adding and removing items, ordering items, and making sure that the state of the Product Backlog is visible to and understood by all of the various stakeholders. The Developers are accountable for the Sprint Backlog, which includes all of the Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint along with the Sprint Goal and a plan for achieving the Sprint Goal.
Since the Product Backlog contains "an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product", defects currently in production would be a Product Backlog Item. The Product Owner would be accountable for deciding if it belongs in the Product Backlog and how it should be ordered among the other things, but would likely involve the whole Scrum Team in understanding the issue.
If the defect was found in work currently in development and not yet in production, I would consider that to be indicative of undone work. Ideally, the Developers would find and fix that issue as part of their Sprint, since it was introduced by changes they are actively making. The creation of an issue in an issue tracking tool would depend entirely on the team's way of working.
Personally, I would suggest that defects caused by new work would be fixed in the Sprint where the work was done to maintain quality and ensure that all delivered work is done. Once the defect is shipped, the Product Owner would be involved to help prioritize. Adding new work to an in-progress Sprint would require collaboration between the Product Owner and Developers to understand impact to Sprint Goal and the Sprint plan.
There's no one right answer as to when the team works on it. It would depend on how recent the defect was injected (existing versus new development), the impact on stakeholders, the impact on the team's ability to meet the Sprint Goal, and the team's working agreements for managing defects.
answered Dec 26, 2021 at 16:38
