The definition of bug

Wikipedia defines a bug as “a design defect in an engineered system that causes an undesired result.” I thought it originated when a moth caused issues in an early electromechanical computer in the 40s. Today I learned Thomas Edison used the term back in the 1800s! And folks who repaired telephones in the 20s were referred to as “bug hunters.”

I’ve seen conflict arise about the definition of bugs and bug reporting used as a means of submitting change requests. It can be a tricky subject. If an implementation is incomplete, is that a bug? If the implementation was complete but the implications were unexpected or undesired by the original author of the design, is that a bug? Is a work item, bug or not, just work to be done?

Most software engineers I’ve known take pride in their work. They want to implement bug-free and complete systems. So their ego can feel threatened when receiving a bug report for something that doesn’t fit the profile of a bug.

Bugs are different than implementation tasks or change requests. They require a different path to resolution. There is a stage of debugging before creating a solution. It’s highly exploratory and can’t be accurately estimated. Once fully understood, that’s where it starts to resemble normal work items or change requests.

How have you dealt with bug reports that don’t fit the definition of a bug?