Using Kanban for Bug Tracking and Triage

Kanban for Bug Tracking

Kanban is an excellent fit for bug tracking because bugs arrive unpredictably and need fast triage, prioritization, and resolution. A dedicated bug board helps the team manage incoming issues without disrupting feature work.

Recommended Column Layout

Reported → Triaged → Investigating → Fixing → In Review → Verified → Closed

• Reported -- Raw bug reports as they come in. No limit.
• Triaged -- Bugs that have been reviewed, confirmed, and prioritized. Add severity and color label here.
• Investigating -- Someone is reproducing the bug and identifying the root cause.
• Fixing -- The fix is being implemented.
• In Review -- The fix is in code review.
• Verified -- QA has confirmed the fix resolves the issue.
• Closed -- Done and deployed.

Color Labels by Severity

• Red -- Critical / P0 (system down, data loss)
• Orange -- High / P1 (major feature broken)
• Yellow -- Medium / P2 (feature degraded, workaround exists)
• Green -- Low / P3 (minor cosmetic issue)
• Blue -- Enhancement (not a bug, but a requested improvement)

Triage Policy

Hold a 15-minute daily triage meeting to review all cards in the Reported column:

1. Confirm the bug is reproducible.
2. Assign a severity color label.
3. Move to Triaged.
4. If critical (red), immediately assign and move to Investigating.

WIP Limits for Bug Boards

Set aggressive WIP limits on Fixing (2-3 cards) to ensure bugs get resolved quickly rather than languishing. Critical bugs bypass WIP limits.