Severity vs Priority Explained

Severity describes impact

Severity is about how serious the defect is for users or the product. A crash, data loss, blocked login, or broken payment flow is usually high severity because the damage is significant.

Priority describes urgency

Priority is about when the team should address the defect. A typo on a homepage might be low severity but high priority before a major launch. A deep edge case may be high severity but lower priority if almost nobody can trigger it.

Ask better triage questions

Useful questions include: how many users are affected, how often it happens, whether a workaround exists, and whether it blocks revenue, access, safety, or a critical workflow.

Document the reasoning

Do not only write P2 / High. Add one sentence explaining the rating. Future readers should understand the decision without replaying the whole conversation.