Let’s peek in on a discussion in a bug triage meeting.
Tim, the marketing manager, is shaking his head. “That’s a high on the severity scale. It’s really bad, guys. You have to make it a high.”
Jordan, the development manager, is barely containing her frustration. Her eye is starting to twitch as she replies, “No, Tim. That’s not all that bad. It’s an inconvenience, I agree, but there’s an easy workaround.”
“Inconvenience?!?” Tim says a bit more loudly than he intended. “You call not being able to print an inconvenience?!? That’s a disaster!”
“Yes, I call not being able to print from one particular type of printer without installing an upgraded driver from the vendor’s website an inconvenience. The user just needs…”
“I know what the user needs,” Tim cut in. “The user needs to be able to print out of the box! You can fix this in our code, right?”
Jordan nods, “Yes, but we’d just be working around the vendor’s…”
“Then fix it.” Tim stood over Jordan, glaring.
“But it’s a medium at best!” Jordan objected. “The user isn’t losing any data, doesn’t have to reboot, isn’t crashing. They just have to update a driver.”
This argument could continue forever. I’ve seen many arguments like this go on and on. What’s really happening here? Why are Tim and Jordan about to be at each other’s throats?
Tim, the marketing manager, is shaking his head. “That’s a high on the severity scale. It’s really bad, guys. You have to make it a high.”
Jordan, the development manager, is barely containing her frustration. Her eye is starting to twitch as she replies, “No, Tim. That’s not all that bad. It’s an inconvenience, I agree, but there’s an easy workaround.”
“Inconvenience?!?” Tim says a bit more loudly than he intended. “You call not being able to print an inconvenience?!? That’s a disaster!”
“Yes, I call not being able to print from one particular type of printer without installing an upgraded driver from the vendor’s website an inconvenience. The user just needs…”
“I know what the user needs,” Tim cut in. “The user needs to be able to print out of the box! You can fix this in our code, right?”
Jordan nods, “Yes, but we’d just be working around the vendor’s…”
“Then fix it.” Tim stood over Jordan, glaring.
“But it’s a medium at best!” Jordan objected. “The user isn’t losing any data, doesn’t have to reboot, isn’t crashing. They just have to update a driver.”
This argument could continue forever. I’ve seen many arguments like this go on and on. What’s really happening here? Why are Tim and Jordan about to be at each other’s throats?