“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” We often joke about it, but this phrase touches on a profound truth: between technical error and actual usage, the boundary is porous.
The Gray Area
In the reality of a project, a bug isn't always an obvious mistake. Sometimes, it's a use case no one planned for, but that has settled in.
Brutally fixing this "bug" sometimes means breaking the user experience.
The Bug Report: A Goldmine
Sometimes, a user reports a problem that is actually a symptom of an unmet need. You discover a major product improvement instead of just a ticket to close.
“This is how it is designed today”
This is a powerful phrase. It allows you to speak the truth without being dramatic. It distinguishes between what is intended, what is tolerated, and what needs to evolve.
Before being an error to delete, a bug is information to understand.