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# How to ignore bugs (safely)

Chasing a zero-bug policy is a trap that kills engineering velocity. Learn a data-driven triage framework to safely ignore trivial defects and prioritize what actually impacts revenue.

- **Speakers:** [Anja Kunkel](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@anja-kunkel)
- **Event:** World Congress 2023
- **Published:** September 27, 2023
- **Duration:** 23:03
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/711-how-to-ignore-bugs-safely

## Summary

Chasing a flawless system is a trap that ultimately hinders product velocity. Using the analogy of a broken physical shopping cart, this talk illustrates that software bugs carry vastly different weights—from minor cosmetic layout flaws to system-breaking failures. To navigate an endless backlog, engineering teams must adopt a triage mindset borrowed from emergency medicine (the START methodology), categorizing bugs into immediate (red), delayable (yellow), minor (green), and safely ignorable (white) tiers.

To objectively evaluate technical debt, developers should apply a risk evaluation formula: probability of occurrence multiplied by severity. Severity is inherently tied to revenue impact, driven by the number of affected users and the problem's total lifespan. Drawing from DevOps principles in the book *Accelerate*, a bug's lifespan combines the "time to notice" (relying on monitoring efficacy) and "time to recover" (relying on agile workflow and deployment efficiency). Multiplying these factors reveals the true business threat of any given defect.

Blindly enforcing a "zero bug policy" often leads to systemic dysfunction, acting as a loophole for minor details to bypass regular feature prioritization. Instead, teams should implement rapid resolution policies exclusively for highly rated priority cases. By establishing a data-driven definition of what constitutes an actual "important problem," engineering teams are empowered to safely ignore trivial bugs and maintain a healthy balance between system maintenance and valuable feature delivery.

**Keywords:** bug triage framework, software risk evaluation, zero bug policy pitfalls, start triage methodology, time to restore service, time to notice vs recover, devops performance metrics, bug severity calculation, feature prioritization pipelines, revenue impact modeling, engineering workflow optimization, software defect management, incident response prioritization, technical debt assessment, accelerate devops practices

## Chapters

1. **Defining software flaws and their overall relevance** (00:03) — A standard definition of a software fault establishes context for determining which system errors require attention.
1. **Using a physical shopping cart to evaluate bug severity** (01:40) — Assessing broken physical parts on a shopping cart demonstrates how context determines if a flaw is truly critical.
1. **Applying medical triage principles to software incidents** (04:11) — The medical START method categorizes system problems by urgency using a straightforward color-coded prioritization model.
1. **Calculating business risk with probability and severity metrics** (07:28) — Multiplying issue probability by the number of affected users and total downtime creates an accurate risk assessment.
1. **Evaluating issue probability, user impact, and revenue loss** (10:39) — Measuring user happiness and system trust ultimately highlights financial consequences like lost revenue.
1. **Tracking recovery time metrics to evaluate monitoring maturity** (12:31) — Combining the time to notice an incident with deployment speed aligns engineering workflows with standard DORA metrics.
1. **Prioritizing new software features over minor layout issues** (16:40) — Comparing the business value of new capabilities against minor glitches prevents teams from wasting effort on unimportant details.
1. **Understanding the pitfalls of a strict zero bug policy** (18:51) — Enforcing blanket fixes for all system errors allows teams to bypass essential conversations about business priorities.
1. **Handling safety platforms and customer acceptance testing requirements** (21:11) — Constructive dialogue aligns engineering data with exact user expectations during customer acceptance testing and critical platform evaluations.

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- [The impact of minor user interface bugs on trust](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/540-let-s-get-visual-visual-testing-in-your-project) (from "Let's get visual - Visual testing in your project")
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- [Embracing failures and analyzing high-profile software engineering mistakes](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/423-the-software-bug-all-stars-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them) (from "The Software Bug All Stars - and what we can learn from them")
- [Identifying non-coding software vulnerabilities and organizational risks](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/712-unleashing-the-power-of-developers-why-cybersecurity-is-the-missing-piece) (from "Unleashing the Power of Developers: Why Cybersecurity is the Missing Piece?!?")
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