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Ashit from Draftly.so

How do you manage bug fixes and feature development at the same time?

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Our dev team is juggling bug fixes and feature requests. How do you balance and prioritize both?

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It depends on the bug importance, if it causes something really important not to work I think it is better to fix them before implementing a new feature. New features can come with new bugs as well!
Ashit from Draftly.so
@johnberg of course, what I meant to ask was how do you plan the sprint so that when you encounter issues in the middle of the sprint you can still accommodate them. Do you keep buffer for bugs that may come up?
@ashitvora We have a sprint point allocated from the beginning of the week for bugs. If no bugs appear, we add new tasks in the middle of the sprint to fully fulfill the sprint points.
tonylab
Good morning, Most startups and companies face this issue, and here's why: they often lack an in-house QA team and expect developers to handle the testing. While I’m a UX professional now, I used to work in QA, and although I disliked the job, it gave me valuable insight. Without proper testing, you’ll end up with a buggy product that frustrates customers and damages your reputation. Here’s my advice: Hire a QA Team: Bring in both manual and automation QA specialists to ensure thorough testing coverage. Categorize Bugs: Assign bugs a severity level (e.g., critical, high, medium, low) to help prioritize the work effectively. Time Allocation: Dedicate specific time blocks in each sprint to address bug fixes alongside feature development. For example, allocate 20-30% of sprint capacity to high-priority bugs. Regular Triage: Conduct regular triage meetings to quickly assess and prioritize new bugs. Include product managers and stakeholders to align priorities with business goals. Focus Teams: During critical periods, assign separate teams or team members to focus on either bug fixes or feature development to prevent context switching. Organize Bugs: Use a board (physical or digital) to track all bugs, assign them to specific QAs and developers, set priorities, and ensure they’re completed efficiently. Make sure you’re using tools like Jira, Basecamp, or similar platforms to streamline tracking and communication. Also, depending on your team’s Scrum preference, consider implementing Kanban or a one-week sprint cycle to keep things moving quickly. If you need more help for consultation message me based in London or check me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony... I hope this helps!
Vishal Bansal
The most important thing is how bad the bug is. If it's causing a lot of problems for users, stop everything else and fix it first. Clients won't want new things if the old things don't work right. You can try to work on new features and fix bugs at the same time, but you need to be ready to change your plans. Don't put all your developers on new features. Some of them need to be ready to fix bugs that might come up.
Emma Rac
I rely on Asana for this it’s flexible enough to manage both without getting messy.
Mas Esq
For me, separating springs has been awesome. I use Jira to plan out bug fixes and feature dev.
Peter Victor
I set up a bug fix backlog alongside feature requests. I review each in prioritization meetings and ensure the highest-impact bugs are fixed during sprints.
Nancy Wright
Definitely a challenge to balance bug fixes and feature development simultaneously. A few key things that help in my experience: 1) Prioritize bugs ruthlessly based on severity/impact. 2) Dedicate a set % of engineering capacity each sprint just for bug fixes. 3) Have a strong QA process to catch bugs early. 4) Use feature flags to decouple releases from development. 5) Leverage AI/automation tools where possible to speed up testing cycles. Takes discipline but having a systematic approach makes a big difference! Let me know if any other tips to share.