State the problem objectively. Don’t try to use humor and don’t use emotionally charged zingers. What you think is funny when you write the defect may not be interpreted as funny by a developer who is working overtime and is stressed by deadlines. Using emotionally charged statements doesn’t do anything for fixing the problem. Emotional statements just create barriers to communication and teamwork. Even if the developers doubted you and returned your previous defect and now you have proof that you are correct and they are wrong, just state the problem and the additional information that will be helpful to the developer. In the long run this added bit
of professionalism will gain you respect and credibility. Read over your problem description before submitting it and remove or restate those comments that could be interpreted as being negative towards a person.
| Neutralize Example: This example is a response to a developer returning a defect for more information and requesting more details on what values caused the problem. | Defect Remark |
| Don’t: The first clause will probably be interpreted as a jab at the developer and adds no useful information. | As could have been determined from the original defect with very little effort, function ABC does indeed abend with any negative value as input. |
| Do: | Function ABC abends with any negative value. Examples of some values tested include -1, -36, -32767. |
