What does the priority in testing depend on?

The priority in testing depends on several key factors that determine the importance and order of executing tests and fixing defects:

• Criticality of functionality: How important the tested functionality is for the main business processes of the product. Tests covering critical user paths and core features have a higher priority.
• Usage frequency: How often users utilize this functionality. Popular features are tested with a higher priority.
• Risk of malfunction: What damage or negative consequences may arise in case of an error in this part of the product (financial losses, reputational damage, legal issues). Higher risk — higher priority.
• Impact on other parts of the system: Can a defect in this functionality cause failures or incorrect operation in other modules? High impact — high priority.
• Stability of functionality: How often changes occur in this part of the product. Functionality with frequent changes requires more frequent and prioritized testing.
• Business and stakeholder requirements: Specific wishes of customers, management, or other stakeholders regarding the priority of certain functionalities or areas.
• Workarounds availability: If there is a simple and well-known workaround for a problem, its fix priority may be lowered compared to a critical bug without an alternative.

When working with defects, priority is often determined in conjunction with severity, but these are different concepts:

• Severity: The degree of impact of the defect on the system or its part. It is determined by the technical side.
• Priority: The importance of fixing the defect relative to business requirements and resources. It is determined by product management.

Example: A bug in the logo operation (low severity) may have a high priority if it is a customer requirement or affects branding. A failure in a rarely used internal function (high severity) may have a low priority if it does not affect main processes and there is a workaround.