Explain how you would deal with a critical bug discovered in software a day before the scheduled release?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

My actions would include a thorough analysis of the defect's impact on end-users
and core business functions, the likelihood of it occurring in production, and
any potential workarounds. I would present a clear risk assessment to the
stakeholders, project manager, and development lead during an urgent meeting. I
would outline the trade-offs: delaying the release versus releasing with a known
defect and a contingency plan (e.g., a hotfix immediately after release, or a
feature toggle). I would recommend a course of action based on the business
impact

Anonymous · Answer

If I discovered a critical bug the day before release, I’d first assess its
severity and customer impact with engineering and QA to determine if it affects
core functionality, security, or compliance. I’d then quickly bring together key
stakeholders — product, engineering, QA, and release management — to evaluate
options: fix and delay, release with mitigation, or defer if low-risk. Based on
data and risk assessment, I’d recommend the safest path that protects user
experience and brand trust, even if it means a short delay. I’d ensure
transparent communication of the decision and next steps to leadership and
cross-functional teams, then follow up with a root cause analysis to prevent
similar issues in future releases.

Anonymous · Answer

I would first assess the impact of the bug whether it is impacting core
functionality, or impacting privacy or security.
I will follow with reproducibility trying to identify the conditions under which
the bug is reproducible to assess if a quick fix is feasible.
I would engage stakeholders, quality assurance and developers to discuss the bug
and brainstorm potential fixes.
I’ll follow with providing clear options to management: delay the release,
implement a quick fix, or a workaround. Those options should include the risks
and impact.
The final step is to create a retrospective describing the bug, what went well,
what went bad, actions items and lessons learned.
When working at Flutter after implementing the automated code signing process an
issue signing the ios libraries was identified a day before a release. I quickly
notified the iOS team, stakeholders and management about the bug. At the same we
started debugging the problem finding that the path to the library was wrong in
the engine configuration files.
After root causing the problem a couple of options were identified: applying a
fix potentially delaying the release for a few hours, manually resigning the
library bypassing the software security supply chain validations. After
presenting the options to management it was decided to take the risk of
potentially delaying the release.
The fix was applied in the engine configurations and the artifacts were
generated through the regular process and released on time.

Anonymous · Answer

Work backwards from Customer, if this will impact the 100% of the customers then
it is a no-go. I will call a Go/NoGo meeting clearly document the late breaking
bug and its impact to our customers. At xyz we followed the following process:
a) First before going to production, do a stage deployment and do an end-end
testing
b) If the bug is discovered during Stage, have a go-nogo meeting and state the
imapct and vote for no-go, get an estimate from the team for the fix and state
that the leadership in the meeting
c) To reduce the blast radius - do a staged release and make sure that Customer
impact is minimu
d) Do a post mortem on what went wrong and how it was not caught during dev/test
phase and ensure that this does not repeat

Anonymous · Answer

I would first assess the issue on the severity of the bug, identify a fix
forward, and have all hands on deck. I would communicate the issue to all
stakeholders, including the issue at hand, the potential fix forward, and
provide regular updates. I would request for a 48hr delay in launch to 1. get
the team onboard, fix the issue, and test before relaunching.

Anonymous · Answer

I would organise a sync with main stakeholders involved, especially the
engineering team working on the piece that is causing the critical bug. Will try
to establish the root cause and timeline to fix it. At the same time I would
align GTM team and product team to make them aware of the situation so they can
adjust the communication accordingly.

Anonymous · Answer

First, I will try to find the impact of the bug on the application-impacted user
groups and the number of users that would be impacted, as well as the impact on
the downstream system. If the bug will impact a small set of users or has no
downstream impact, I will document it as a known issue under an existing bug in
the backlog and proceed with the release. if it's a medium-severity bug that has
a manual intervention or roundabout, and I will still document the bug as a high
priority item for fixing in the next immediate release and move forward with the
release . If its more critical bug that impact more users with the manual
workaround then We will discuss with the team and make a choice to stop or
proceed with the release . If there is no work around then we will have to stop
the release irrespective of weather we a fix for the critical bug or not as the
fix in the last minute may introduce anther few set of bugs.

Anonymous · Answer

Have empathy to customers and users that are expecting the release for their
softwear or application explain the situation to leader ship and put that on
high priority bug list . Check with tech team to see if we can fix the bug and
get the release unblocked ,If the bug is critical and affecting mission critical
workload then esclate it to leadership and get all the tech and managers
involved to decide how to tackle . See if they can find a workaround for the
issue and unblock the lunch . Involve the business decision leaders to put the
matter on highest priority so you get the visibity to developers that this needs
to be addressed ASAP

Explain how you would deal with a critical bug discovered in software a day before the scheduled release?

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