“I don’t care if it is an orgy of death! There’s still such a thing as a napkin.” – Willow Rosenberg

Development can get busy, messy, and practically chaotic in the blink of an eye. Processes can go wrong, people get stressed, and what does QA do? We stir things up and hand the team bugs.

I was torn between Willow’s line and one from Cordelia Chase for this post, so I’m going to share Cordelia’s too, as both apply to today’s topic:

“Tact is just not saying true stuff. I’ll pass.”

You should always write your bugs the same way, whether it’s an orgy of death or a joyful soirée—hand out the napkins and keep things tidy. Your bugs should always be fact, not tact. When everyone is stressed, you may get the urge to tone the bug down. But tact can be misleading, misconstrued, and ultimately has no home in a bug report.

Since bug writing is the bread and butter of an entry QA position, it’s going to be the first entry in my QA Basics series.

The Importance of Clear Bug Reports

Bugs should follow a well-defined format to ensure defects are communicated efficiently, so issues can be found and assessed quickly.

To start us on that path, today’s post will focus specifically on the Summary—one of three key bug attributes (the others being Impact and Severity) that, when used correctly, can save a Producer or Lead a big chunk of time when assigning the bug to the right team member.

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The Summary

The Summary should be a short, clear line of text that allows a lead or producer to assign the bug to the correct feature team and team member.

To achieve this, I structure the first part of my Summary as follows:

🔹 [Platform][Distribution][TestSuiteDescription][TestCaseDescription][Feature]

It’s constructed using keywords enclosed in square brackets, e.g., [Keyword]. These keywords should:

• Follow a specific order
• Be unique and searchable (no spaces)
• Follow the same consistent format every time

Two examples:

🔹 [Xbox][Disc][Network][CloudSave][TimeTrials]
🔹 [PC][Steam][Env-Art][Collision][CueBall]

If the bug applies to all platforms, I use [All][All], or I stack multiple platforms—but always in the same order.
That hierarchy and order? That’s your napkin in the orgy. (I may be starting to regret this quote, but let’s push on!)
Your team will learn this format naturally over time and come to appreciate it when they’re pushed for time.

Adding the Summary Description

After the keywords, the Summary should contain a phrase (up to 100 characters) describing the effect of the bug—not a lead-up to the bug and no “ifs” or “maybes”.

🔹 [Xbox][Disc][Network][CloudSave][Knockout] Save data will be corrupt
🔹 [PC][Steam][Env-Art][Collision][CueBall] User-controlled car clips through the cue ball

They’re short, simple, and—above all—clear and concise.

A Producer or Lead should immediately know where to assign the bug without needing to open it—because sometimes, they simply won’t have time. That’s why formatting matters.

To SUMMARISE

Know the path your bug will take through the team, and provide napkins in the orgy:

[Xbox][Disc] → Producer: “This needs to go to the contractors. Do they have physical media?”
[Network][CloudSave] → Contractor PM: “This is for the code team.”
[Knockout] → Code Lead: “Fozzy! Bug in Knockout mode with your name on it.”
Save data will be corrupt → Fozzy: “Oh, will it? Time to clean it up using this handy napkin full of useful information.”

Now let’s contrast that with what not to do:

[CloudSave][Xbox][Knockout][Network][Disc] → Producer: “What’s the Xbox Knockout Network? Wait, a network disc? Do we have a PXE??”
Save data may be corrupt → Fozzy: “May? It either is or it isn’t. Haven’t they put in the effort to find out?”
User-controlled car clips through the cue ball a little bit, in specific cases → “In specific cases?” Do I have to guess which ones?!”

No tact. Just facts.

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What’s Next?

Although I said earlier that a well-written Summary allows a Lead to “immediately” assign a bug, whether it actually gets into the current Sprint or hangs around in the backlog is determined by the next two key bug attributes:

Impact
Severity

We’ll cover Impact and Severity next before moving on to the full bug format, which includes:

🔹 Description
🔹 Reproduction Steps
🔹 Expected Behaviour
🔹 Frequency
🔹 Notes
🔹 Update Notes
🔹 Environments
🔹 Priority

But for now, let’s focus on perfecting those Summaries.

Keep it clear, concise, and consistent—because whether development is a chaotic orgy of death or a joyful soirée, QA brings the napkins.

Final Thoughts

I really hope this post helps new QA testers understand how important a well-structured bug summary is. It’s not just a title—it’s a critical tool for keeping the development pipeline smooth and efficient.

So, what do you think? Does this format make sense? Let me know your thoughts—I’d love to hear them!