When you aren’t a developer, it’s so easy to look at everything in the context of “fix it”. You ask for something new to be added, and it needs “fixed”. You ask the Web Department (or the people who do the work) to “fix it”, and they reply and tell you that it is working as expected. You might think, grrr, those techies, what’s wrong with them, they don’t get it.
The techies, on the other hand, don’t get what you’re asking for. I’ll define a bug and a feature before I move on. This is in my own words…
Bug
An unexpected result that occurs when something doesn’t work as expected.
Feature
Adding something new that didn’t previously exist.
Fixing things is so much different than new features. Adding new features is fun, we get to move forward. Fixing things is not as much fun, nonetheless a very important part of what I do. If you want something added to a website, it’s a feature. If the website isn’t working as expected, or if you click “save” and nothing happens – that’s a bug.
When you want someone to change the way someone works, feature.
When you want to add something new, feature.
When the way it works sucks and you don’t like it but it works and you want it changed, feature.
When it doesn’t work, bug.
Next time you ask for something new, think feature – and asking for something new can make that new thing happen rather than the techies trying to figure out what is broken!
No Comments