Severity vs Priority: Two Questions, Not One
Severity asks how badly the software is broken. Priority asks how soon it needs fixing. They are set by different people for different reasons, and treating them as one field is why the wrong defect gets fixed first. This video walks through all four combinations with a real defect in each.
What the video covers:
• The two questions, and why one field cannot answer both
• Impact and urgency, and who decides each
• The severity/priority matrix
• High severity, high priority — the obvious case
• High severity, lower priority — badly broken, rarely reached
• Low severity, high priority — trivial to fix, impossible to ignore
• Low severity, low priority — and why the quadrant still needs a decision
• Standard severity levels and what separates them
• Standard priority levels
• Triage — how the two values get agreed between roles
• Where both belong in the defect report
• Common mistakes, including inflating severity to force attention
• A practical checklist for setting both on your next defect
⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Two different questions
0:30 - Impact and urgency
1:16 - The matrix
1:50 - High severity, high priority
2:25 - High severity, lower priority
3:03 - Low severity, high priority
3:34 - Low severity, low priority
4:02 - Severity levels
4:38 - Priority levels
5:14 - Triage
5:57 - In the defect report
6:36 - Common mistakes
7:16 - A practical checklist
7:51 - Summary
Subscribe for more software testing, QA, and AI evaluation tutorials.
#SoftwareTesting #QA #BugTracking #QualityAssurance