What This Template Is For
Every product team deals with bugs. The question is whether you deal with them systematically or reactively. Without a triage process, critical bugs sit alongside cosmetic issues in the same backlog. Engineers fix what they remember, not what matters most. Product managers get surprised by customer-facing issues they did not know existed. Support agents file duplicate bugs because they cannot find the original.
This template gives your team a repeatable process for classifying, reproducing, prioritizing, and assigning bugs. It covers severity definitions, a reproduction checklist, a prioritization matrix, and triage meeting structure. If your bugs are coming in through support tickets, the support ticket triage template handles the initial classification and routing before bugs land in this workflow.
How to Use This Template
- Copy the template into your issue tracker or team wiki.
- Align your team on severity definitions first. The most common triage failure is inconsistent severity classification.
- Use the reproduction checklist for every bug report before assigning it to an engineer. Unreproducible bugs waste engineering time.
- Run a triage meeting at a fixed cadence (daily during crunch, weekly otherwise) to review new bugs.
- Assign a triage owner for each meeting. Rotate the role to prevent bottlenecks and build shared context.
- Review severity definitions quarterly. As your product evolves, what counts as "critical" will change.
The Template
Severity Classification
- ☐ Define severity levels with concrete examples from your product
- ☐ Align engineering, product, and support on these definitions
- ☐ Post the classification table in your issue tracker and support wiki
| Severity | Definition | SLA: Fix Within | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| S0 - Blocker | Production outage, data loss, or security vulnerability | [Time] | [Product-specific examples] |
| S1 - Critical | Major feature broken, no workaround, affects many users | [Time] | [Product-specific examples] |
| S2 - Major | Feature broken or degraded, workaround exists | [Time] | [Product-specific examples] |
| S3 - Minor | Cosmetic issue, edge case, or low-impact behavior | [Time] | [Product-specific examples] |
| S4 - Trivial | Typo, visual inconsistency, or enhancement request | Next sprint or backlog | [Product-specific examples] |
Bug Report Checklist
Every bug report should include these fields before triage:
- ☐ Summary: one sentence describing the observed behavior versus expected behavior
- ☐ Steps to reproduce: numbered list that another person can follow
- ☐ Environment: browser, OS, device, account type, feature flags
- ☐ Actual result: what happened (include screenshots or screen recordings)
- ☐ Expected result: what should have happened
- ☐ Frequency: always, intermittent, or one-time
- ☐ Affected users: single user, segment, or all users
- ☐ Related tickets: link to support tickets or previous bug reports
- ☐ Reporter: who found it (support agent, QA, customer, internal user)
Reproduction Checklist
Before assigning a bug to an engineer, verify:
- ☐ Steps to reproduce are clear and complete
- ☐ Bug has been reproduced by someone other than the reporter
- ☐ Bug reproduces in a clean environment (incognito, different device, different account)
- ☐ If intermittent, at least 3 reproduction attempts have been logged with results
- ☐ Screenshots or recordings are attached
- ☐ Related logs, error messages, or console output are captured
Prioritization Matrix
Severity defines the impact. Priority defines when to fix it. A minor bug affecting your largest customer may need a faster fix than a major bug affecting a free-tier edge case.
| High Business Impact | Medium Business Impact | Low Business Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S0-S1 Severity | Fix immediately (drop everything) | Fix this sprint | Fix this sprint |
| S2 Severity | Fix this sprint | Next sprint | Backlog |
| S3-S4 Severity | Next sprint | Backlog | Backlog (or won't fix) |
Business impact factors:
- ☐ Number of affected users or accounts
- ☐ Revenue impact (affected accounts' ARR)
- ☐ Whether the customer has escalated or expressed churn intent
- ☐ Whether the bug blocks a launch or go-to-market commitment
- ☐ Whether the bug is externally visible (customer-facing vs. internal)
Triage Meeting Structure
| Agenda Item | Duration | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Review new bugs since last triage | [X] minutes | Triage owner |
| Classify severity and priority for each new bug | [X] minutes | Group |
| Assign owners for bugs approved for this sprint | [X] minutes | Engineering lead |
| Review blocked or aging bugs | [X] minutes | Triage owner |
| Update support team on status of customer-reported bugs | [X] minutes | PM or support lead |
Filled Example: SaaS Product Bug Triage
Severity Classification
| Severity | Definition | SLA: Fix Within | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| S0 - Blocker | Production outage or data loss | 4 hours | App returns 500 for all users; user data deleted unexpectedly; auth bypass vulnerability |
| S1 - Critical | Major feature broken, no workaround | 24 hours | Dashboard fails to load for Business plan accounts; API returns wrong data for webhook payloads |
| S2 - Major | Feature degraded, workaround exists | 1 week | CSV export missing 2 columns (API export works); search returns results in wrong order |
| S3 - Minor | Edge case or cosmetic with low impact | 2 weeks | Tooltip shows wrong date format in Safari; empty state illustration misaligned on tablet |
| S4 - Trivial | Typo or enhancement | Backlog | "Recieve" typo on settings page; button hover color slightly off from design spec |
Sample Triage Log
| Bug ID | Summary | Severity | Priority | Affected Users | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUG-412 | Dashboard 500 error for accounts with 50+ projects | S1 | Fix immediately | ~120 accounts | Maria C. | In progress |
| BUG-413 | Slack integration fails silently when workspace has 500+ channels | S2 | Fix this sprint | ~30 accounts | James T. | Assigned |
| BUG-414 | Date picker shows wrong timezone for UTC-offset users | S3 | Next sprint | ~200 users | Backlog | New |
| BUG-415 | Typo: "Sucess" on confirmation modal | S4 | Backlog | All users | Backlog | New |
This triage process feeds into the broader engineering workflow. Use the RICE Calculator to score competing bug fixes against feature work when prioritizing your sprint backlog. Product-impacting bugs should flow through the product feedback routing template to inform roadmap decisions. For patterns showing up repeatedly in support, review the customer escalation template to handle affected customers proactively.
Key Takeaways
- Severity measures technical impact. Priority measures business urgency. Keep them separate
- Every bug report needs reproduction steps, environment details, and screenshots before triage
- Run triage at a fixed cadence with a rotating owner to prevent bottlenecks
- Use the prioritization matrix to resolve disagreements between severity and business impact
- Close unreproducible bugs after 3 failed reproduction attempts. Reopen if reported again
About This Template
Created by: Tim Adair
Last Updated: 3/4/2026
Version: 1.0.0
License: Free for personal and commercial use