How do you manage bug fixes and feature development at the same time?

Good morning, Most startups and companies face this issue, and here's why: they often lack an in-house QA team and expect developers to handle the testing. While I’m a UX professional now, I used to work in QA, and although I disliked the job, it gave me valuable insight. Without proper testing, you’ll end up with a buggy product that frustrates customers and damages your reputation. Here’s my advice: Hire a QA Team: Bring in both manual and automation QA specialists to ensure thorough testing coverage. Categorize Bugs: Assign bugs a severity level (e.g., critical, high, medium, low) to help prioritize the work effectively. Time Allocation: Dedicate specific time blocks in each sprint to address bug fixes alongside feature development. For example, allocate 20-30% of sprint capacity to high-priority bugs. Regular Triage: Conduct regular triage meetings to quickly assess and prioritize new bugs. Include product managers and stakeholders to align priorities with business goals. Focus Teams: During critical periods, assign separate teams or team members to focus on either bug fixes or feature development to prevent context switching. Organize Bugs: Use a board (physical or digital) to track all bugs, assign them to specific QAs and developers, set priorities, and ensure they’re completed efficiently. Make sure you’re using tools like Jira, Basecamp, or similar platforms to streamline tracking and communication. Also, depending on your team’s Scrum preference, consider implementing Kanban or a one-week sprint cycle to keep things moving quickly. If you need more help for consultation message me based in London or check me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony... I hope this helps!

It depends on the bug importance, if it causes something really important not to work I think it is better to fix them before implementing a new feature. New features can come with new bugs as well!

I set up a bug fix backlog alongside feature requests. I review each in prioritization meetings and ensure the highest-impact bugs are fixed during sprints.

I dedicate some time each sprint just for bugs. This helps balance immediate fixes with ongoing feature builds without losing focus.

Definitely use a combination of approaches. Have dedicated time blocks for bug fixes (20-30% of each sprint), a separate bug tracking board, and regular triage meetings to assess and prioritize bugs. For critical periods, focus teams separately on bugs vs features to avoid context switching. Hiring QA specialists can also help a ton with testing coverage and catching issues early. The key is being organized, prioritizing well, and using the right tools to streamline tracking and communication between QA, devs, and stakeholders.

I rely on Asana for this it’s flexible enough to manage both without getting messy.

Notion’s been my go to i set up dashboards to track progress on both

For me, separating springs has been awesome. I use Jira to plan out bug fixes and feature dev.

To effectively manage bug fixes and feature development simultaneously, prioritize tasks based on their impact on user experience and product stability, treating critical bugs as high-priority features. Regularly communicate with your team and utilize customer feedback to inform resource allocation, ensuring a balanced approach that adapts to changing needs

The most important thing is how bad the bug is. If it's causing a lot of problems for users, stop everything else and fix it first. Clients won't want new things if the old things don't work right. You can try to work on new features and fix bugs at the same time, but you need to be ready to change your plans. Don't put all your developers on new features. Some of them need to be ready to fix bugs that might come up.