CAST - Defect Management Lifecycle Questions and Answers 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A tester re-evaluates a defect that a developer has marked as 'Fixed'. During retesting, the tester discovers that the original issue is still present. According to a standard defect lifecycle, what is the MOST appropriate next status for this defect?
- Closed
- Deferred
- Reopened (Correct answer)
- New
Correct answer: Reopened
When a defect that was supposedly fixed is found to still exist during retesting, the correct procedure is to change its status to 'Reopened'. This sends the defect back to the development team for further investigation and another fix. 'Closed' is for verified fixes, 'Deferred' is for issues postponed to a future release, and 'New' is for freshly discovered defects.
Question 2: A project manager determines that a reported low-priority defect, while valid, will not be fixed in the current release due to significant time constraints and minimal user impact. The issue may be addressed in a subsequent release. Which defect status should be assigned?
- Rejected
- Deferred (Correct answer)
- Closed
- Assigned
Correct answer: Deferred
The 'Deferred' status is used specifically for defects that are acknowledged as valid but are intentionally postponed to a future release. 'Rejected' means the defect is invalid, 'Closed' means it has been fixed and verified, and 'Assigned' means a developer is actively working on it.
Question 3: What is the primary purpose of a defect triage meeting in the software development lifecycle?
- To have developers fix all the outstanding defects in a single session.
- To review, prioritize, and assign newly reported defects for resolution. (Correct answer)
- To retest all defects that have been marked as 'Fixed' by the development team.
- To blame the developer who introduced the most critical defects.
Correct answer: To review, prioritize, and assign newly reported defects for resolution.
A defect triage meeting is a formal process where stakeholders (like project managers, test leads, and development leads) come together to review newly logged defects. The main goals are to validate the defects, assess their severity and priority, and assign them to the appropriate developers or teams for fixing.
Question 4: When a tester is logging a new defect, which of the following pieces of information is LEAST critical to include in the initial report?
- The environment (e.g., OS, browser) where the defect occurred.
- The name of the developer who will fix the defect. (Correct answer)
- The actual result observed versus the expected result.
- Clear, step-by-step instructions to reproduce the defect.
Correct answer: The name of the developer who will fix the defect.
While environment, actual vs. expected results, and steps to reproduce are all essential for a good defect report, the assignment of a developer typically happens later in the process, often during a defect triage meeting. The tester logging the defect is not usually responsible for assigning it.
Question 5: A defect is raised by the testing team. Upon investigation, the development lead determines that the application is behaving exactly as described in the approved requirements specification. What is the most appropriate status for this defect report?
- Reopened
- Fixed
- Deferred
- Rejected (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Rejected
If a reported defect describes behavior that aligns with the official requirements, it is not a true defect. In this case, the report should be marked as 'Rejected' (or a similar status like 'Invalid' or 'As Designed'). This indicates that no code change is necessary because the system is working as intended.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST describes the primary goal of implementing a formal defect management lifecycle?
- To provide a structured and repeatable process for tracking defects from discovery to resolution. (Correct answer)
- To ensure that every reported defect is fixed before the software is released.
- To automatically assign every new defect to the developer who last worked on the code.
- To reduce the overall number of test cases that need to be executed.
Correct answer: To provide a structured and repeatable process for tracking defects from discovery to resolution.
The core purpose of a defect management lifecycle is to create a standardized, predictable process. This ensures that every defect is logged, tracked, prioritized, and driven to a final resolution (which could be 'Fixed', 'Rejected', 'Deferred', etc.) in an organized manner, preventing issues from being lost or ignored.
CAST - Defect Management Lifecycle Questions and Answers 1
A tester re-evaluates a defect that a developer has marked as 'Fixed'.
During retesting, the tester discovers that the original issue is still present.
According to a standard defect lifecycle, what is the MOST appropriate next status for this defect?