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

Question

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

Ashit Vora · Accepted Answer

@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?

Johnberg Arslan · Answer

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 Vora · Answer

@damera_prithvi 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 or do you keep a team member free for the bug fixing?

Kimberly West · Answer

Trello works perfectly for my tracking bugs and feature on seprate boards what tools are you currently using

Nathan Luke · Answer

Shortcut has been great for me I can prioritize bugs abd feature easily without losing focus

Answer

My strategy is to set aside sprint days, concentrate on bug fixes  in the early weeks, then work on feature development in the later weeks. It maintains equilibrium.

Answer

I use separate pipelines for bugs and features in a tool like Jira. This helps prioritize tasks without mixing the two.

khansaru · Answer

For me, it comes down to priorities. Before moving on to new feature, I utilize severity to prioritize problems and make sure that the most important ones are fixed first.

Addau Rabiu · Answer

I dedicate some time each sprint just for bugs. This helps balance immediate fixes with ongoing feature builds without losing focus.

Leo Henry · Answer

Notion’s been my go to i set up dashboards to track progress on both

tonylab · Answer

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 · Answer

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.

Answer

We teams split responsibilities.

Johnberg Arslan · Answer

@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.

Peter Victor · Answer

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.

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

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