Defects have always been a problem during software development. The issues surrounding unresolved defects could result in setbacks spanning months–derailing the software development life cycle.
Developers formed a solution to tackle this issue: the defect management process. In agile methodology, managing defects is the solution to stay on track during development, QA, and testing.
But what is the process of managing defects all about? And how do you use it to maintain deadlines? That is what we are here to discuss. After you read this article, expect to learn the advantages and disadvantages of managing defects, how to use them, and their entire essence.
What is the Defect Management Process?
Learning about the software defect management process is the first step. Managing defects is the primary goal of the entire process. That way, developers can focus on priority tasks without delays and simultaneously handle the defects in question.
Strategies like these enhance the overall performance of DevSecOps. The detail in an organised defect tracking system provides them with all the necessary information on how to handle the defects submitted.
Benefits of Managing Defects
There are many benefits to using processes like defect management. Below are three directly affecting the quality and speed of your software development life cycle:
Quick Resolution Due to Early Detection
The life cycle of defect tracking starts with early detection. Developers must always be vigilant of any possible defects to ensure your software remains functional and quality-guaranteed. Defects can be found throughout any stage of the software development life cycle. That means it could pop up anytime and anywhere.
The defect management process ensures that every defect noticed by any individual can be reported early. Depending on the severity of the defect, it could be resolved at a faster pace–preventing feature development setbacks.
Cost-reduction
The costs of resolving defects are reduced because the process organises how defects are handled. Once a defect is resolved quickly there are fewer costs involved in managing it. Failure to properly manage it can result in extended costs with delayed functions on the feature software.
User Satisfaction
The overall experience of a user when using the software is crucial to its quality. The user satisfaction rating depends solely on the quality of the software they are using. Properly managing defects ensures that you have little to no visible defects on the front end of your product.
Challenges of Managing Defects
There are many benefits to utilising the defect management process. However, this is only beneficial if it works seamlessly with the team. The challenges that the developers could face with defect management should they make mistakes in handling it are few but damaging.
Resistance to the Management Process
How your team perceives the overall process affects its effectiveness in your software development life cycle. If the team welcomes the change warmly, then the chances of it working would be higher. A team that feels significantly resistant to the brought-about changes could result in more defects than your average defect rate.
Balancing Feature Development and Defects
Speaking of defect rates, another challenge developer teams might face is balancing the rate of defects being managed and progressing feature development. A good mix of ensuring the feature development still continues while resolving defects is required to make the defect management strategy progress properly.
Failing to balance feature development and defects will guarantee a delay in progress overall.
Miscommunication with Clients
Clients who are unaware of what the defect management process is could feel underwhelmed during periods of miscommunication. Transparency is key when collaborating with clients on how to effectively manage the project at hand. Making sure that your clients are aware of how the process benefits the development cycle is crucial to avoid miscommunication.
How to Use the Defect Management Process
If you have decided to utilise the process after weighing its pros and cons, congratulations! It is time to learn how to implement it. Below are the key steps on how the defect management strategy works for a team set.
Identification
The first step is to spot defects throughout the software development life cycle. This task involves a group effort. Should a team member spot a defect, they must then report it to a designation platform.
Reporting
Once a defect is identified it is time to log it in a defect tracking system. Some implement their defect management in Jira or other project management platforms. These platforms have a wide variety of options and formats you can use to provide relevant information. The information given during defect reporting gives a solid idea on what the defect is and what it affects throughout the entire project.
It also makes it easier for the assigned developer who will resolve the defect to locate its environment. An example of the relevant information required on the defect log includes:
- Environment where the defect was located – Since code structures are large. It’s important to pinpoint the exact environment where the defect was located for faster resolution purposes.
- Date of discovery and resolution – The date when the defect was discovered and resolved is necessary to estimate how long it took for resolution.
- Assigned to – The name of the developer who will be fixing the defect must be informed so that those checking its status know who to look for.
- Who discovered the defect – The person from the team who discovered the defect should also be visible for further clarifications on what the defect is.
- Current status – A status on the progress of resolution is important to log which issues still require attention.
- Severity and priority level – Requirement for defect triage to balance out software development and defect management.
- Type of defect – For easier assignment to the developer who can solve the said defect.
- Proposed solution – The initial solution the assigned developer will implement.
- Actual solution – The actual solution that resolved the defect.
Defect Triage
Defect triage commences after reporting. This is the assessment stage of the defect management process. During this stage, the developers must organise reported defects depending on the severity and priority levels of the defect.
By organising the defects by the importance it makes it easier to prioritise critical defects over surface-level ones. This makes defect management less disorganised. Furthermore, solving critical defects to ensure continuous workflow on feature development is important.
Assignment
Once the defects are organised by severity and priority levels it’s time to assign them to a developer. The developer must give out a proposed solution and timeline for when they fully resolve the defect. It is important to show how they planned to solve it and how long they estimated it would take VS how it was actually solved and how long it actually took. The purpose of logging all these information is to record it for preventive measure in future projects or faster resolution.
Resolution and Verification
The developer assigned must then announce that it’s been resolved. Following the announcement of the resolution, QA testers must then follow the action by verifying that the defect has now been resolved. This is a valuable part in the defect management process. Depending on the severity level of the defect, it could be halting progress on the entire software enterprise.
Retrospection
The last step of the Defect Management Process is to reflect on how it was implemented and why it was needed in the first place. This can help the team identify consistent blockers to resolve them or learn lessons on how to prevent them moving forward.
Keep in mind that most defects are caused by improper coding practices. Prevention is the key through knowledge sharing and researching upon the best practices for software development.
You can learn more in detail with our Defect Management Process Whitepaper.
Conclusion
That concludes all you need to know about the defect management process. We hope learning about it from us gives you a clear idea of how it’s used. Developers are brilliant at creating software that companies require. However, that doesn’t ensure they don’t make mistakes along the way.
Contact Flexisource IT for a free consultation on how we can help you absorb important strategies for effective software development today! Our software developers can integrate this process within your team effectively and efficiently.
