'''A Bug's Life Cycle'''

Identifying and fixing bugs involves several steps to coordinate as the bug changes states and assignees.

'''Therefore:'''

Define and follow a life-cycle for bugs.

A bug can only be assigned to one person at a time. That bug may flow back to the reporter with a misdiagnosis or fix that doesn't work. The assignee may assign the bug to another programmer more familiar with the fault or for review. It may go back and forth from reporter to programmer a few times before it is fixed, retested, and resolved.

See: DocumentWork; CoordinateEfforts

See also http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~BugStateChart -- StevenBlack

Above link apparently dead [''No - seems OK.'']	- but see http://scarab.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=31 and open the "1.0 issue workflow" document. -- JornHansen

Bugzilla has long had a very effective life-cycle diagram that can be customized to various situations and not just software development - see http://www.bugzilla.org/docs/2.16/images/bzLifecycle.png.

''Stupid question: doesn't the BugLifeCycle start when the bug is introduced?''

DefectTrackingPatterns