Bugfixongelma

Bugfixongelma is a neologism in software engineering used to describe the problem space that arises when applying bug fixes. The term blends "bugfix" with the Finnish word ongelma (problem) to emphasize that fixes can themselves create new problems if not managed carefully.

Common features include regression risk when a fix alters behavior in ways that were not anticipated, incomplete reproduction of the original issue, environment drift between development and production, flaky tests that misreport outcomes, and changes to shared interfaces that ripple through dependent modules.

Causes often include insufficient test coverage, rushed remediation for critical outages, changes that touch multiple components, reliance on non-deterministic behavior, and gaps in change management or documentation.

Mitigation relies on practices such as automated regression testing, incremental fixes with small scope, thorough code reviews, feature flags to isolate changes, staged deployments with monitoring, clear rollback procedures, and post-fix verification in staging and production.

In project practice, bugfixongelma can increase maintenance burden and affect release timelines. Addressing it involves treating fixes as investments in quality, maintaining traceability from defect to fix, and measuring outcomes with metrics such as regression rate and time to restore.