How do severity and priority differ for a bug?

Severity describes the impact of the defect, while priority describes how soon the team should address it relative to other work. A severe failure in a rarely used unsupported path may have lower immediate priority than a smaller issue blocking a scheduled launch, depending on risk. Record affected users, frequency, workaround, and business consequences so prioritization is evidence-based. Teams may use different scales, so apply shared definitions. Do not change severity merely to force scheduling; make the urgency and impact explicit instead.