Defect Management Process in Software Testing

Defects are an inevitable part of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). And effective management of them is key to delivering premium-quality applications. An efficiently structured defect management process in software testing (DMP) guarantees that issues are resolved promptly, reducing the likelihood of a software defect reaching production. This enhances the overall reliability of the software.

What is a Software Defect?

In software testing, a defect is defined as a mismatch between the business requirements of the application and the actual outcomes produced by the development. To put it differently, when a digital solution does not operate as intended, it is deemed a defect.

ISTQB defines this term as:

A flaw in a component or system that can cause the component or system to fail to perform its required function, e.g., an incorrect statement or data definition.

Other terms for this concept include issues, bugs, or incidents. Although there are certain distinctions between them, they are commonly used interchangeably to describe issues in the functioning of a software application.

There are several causes of incidents, including errors in coding, incorrect application logic, improper implementation of required functionality, and faulty interactions between multiple components of the app.

🔴 It is important that regardless of the cause, every bug must be identified and addressed in a timely manner.

The Essence of the DMP

On the top, we said already, the Defect Management Process (DMP) is an important part of software development that involves identifying and fixing errors in the operation of a digital product. DMP assists QA and development teams in maintaining software quality and meeting business objectives.

It is crucial to emphasize that the Defect Management Process – is an iterative process, requiring careful attention at every phase of the software development life cycle. This ensures the creation of a digital product will align with the expectations of the target audience.

Defect Management Lifecycle

The defect management process in software testing involves several stages, collectively known as – theDefect Management Life Cycle. Further in the text, you can see how work on handling errors is usually carried out in a project:

• The testing team detects a bug and assigns it the status New (1; 2)
• The stakeholders lead staff involved in quality assurance conducts an in-depth analysis of a defect in a digital solution. This can be done in several stages (3; 4; 5; 6; 7):

→ First, the QA lead checks how accurately the bug has been identified.
→ If the legitimacy cannot be confirmed, the defect will be rejected and will not be passed on to the developers for work.
→ The team lead determines whether the bug is within scope if it has occurred before, and whether it is considered valid.

• If the above conditions are met, the issue is passed to the development team for resolution. Once the changes are made to the code, the bug is assigned the status Fixed and is handed over to the tester for verification (8; 9).
• If the test is successful, the incident is moved to the Closed status (10).
• If the testing fails, the issue is reopened and sent back to the developers for correction (11).

How is Error Managed in Real Conditions?

👀 Real Application Example: Suppose you are working on quality assurance for a digital solution for food delivery. During testing of the product addition feature to the cart, you notice that it is not working. What happens next?

• You log the issue and assign it the status New.
• After analysis, the QA lead changes its status to Assigned and sends it to the developers for correction.
• The development team makes the necessary changes to the code base, updates the defect status to Fixed, and returns it to you.
• You retest the feature. The test results show that items can now be added to the cart, but their prices are not displayed.
• After giving the ticket the status Re-open, you reopen it and forward it to the developers along with the pertinent remarks.
• Once the functionality added to the product functions as intended, the bug will be deemed Closed.

Phases of Defect Management

We described how to deal with defects once identified in the section before this one. It is important to stress, nevertheless, that preventing an issue is significantly more successful than fixing it after the fact.

Phases of the defect management process include bug prevention measures, bug detection and resolution, and other tasks covered later. Let’s deep in:

✅ Defect Prevention

The goal of this proactive stage of the SDLC process is to reduce errors. It involves identifying the root causes of defects and putting plans and methods in place to prevent them from happening.

The following tasks could be included in the DMP’s initial phase:

• Examining past defects’ data to determine the underlying causes. This aids in identifying the phases of the SDLC — such as requirements gathering, design, development, and others — that frequently experience problems.
• Improving development practices. Once the causes are identified, project teams should take steps to eliminate them. For example, they may impact on implementation of coding standards or clarify requirements.
• Conducting early testing. Teams should focus on QA processes during the early stages of the development process. For example, you can practice test-driven development (TDD) or behavior-driven development (BDD).

✅ Deliverable Baseline

The characteristics of the specific version of the product or its particular feature should be defined by requirements as a reference point for testing or the software development process. Thus a set of requirements and specifications serve as the official starting point for identifying bugs. All improvements must be compared against our deliverable baseline.

This phase of the DMP involves the following activities:

• Defining clear product requirements. This ensures that the product meets the expectations of stakeholders.
• Version control. It is essential to track each version of our product to ensure that the approved versions of the software are used.
• Defining the scope of work before testing begins. The team must clearly understand which tasks need to be completed before the start of the QA process. This will help avoid unnecessary changes during testing.

✅ Defect Discovery

The defect discovery stage involves identifying bugs during the testing process of the digital product. Once the QA lead verifies the veracity of the bug, it is deemed detected.

Note: Early detection and resolution of errors are the most cost-effective. According to up-to-date analytical data, fixing a bug during the design phase can be up to 30 times cheaper than resolving it after release.

Necessary bug defects discovery activities:

• Conducting testing. Depending on the goals and types of testing, the team may choose manual or automated test cases. It is important to control the quality of test execution.
• Registration of identified issues. To encourage collaboration on the project, it is advisable to use a bug tracking system (e.g., Jira). When reporting the discovered bug, its severity, reproduction steps, and the environment in which it was found should be specified.
• Categorizing bugs. This activity involves classifying errors by type and severity to determine the priority for resolution.

✅ Defect Resolution

If the incident is confirmed to be valid, developers start working on it, with the goal of fixing it as quickly as possible. This phase will be successful if there is close cooperation between QA and dev teams.

Proposed activities during the defect resolution process:

• Identifying the root cause. It’s crucial for developers to comprehend the root cause of the issue. This will help resolve it quickly and prevent recurrence.
• Fixing the bug. The development team makes necessary changes to the code or configuration to fix the bug.
• Re-testing process. Testers check whether the bug has been fixed. It is also important to assess whether the changes have affected other system components.

✅ Process Improvement

This is a continuous phase aimed at improving the entire defect management process in software testing and preventing similar errors in the future.

The process improvement phase may include:

• Review process. Teams can analyze the risk of defects when using different coding methods or track modules where errors frequently occur.
• Evaluation of the software tools used on the project. It is important to determine how well the platform meets the project’s needs and, if necessary, consider the possibility of using other tools.
• Collecting feedback. Ongoing feedback from testers, developers, and other stakeholders is essential. This allows the optimization of workflows by implementing new practices and adjustments.

✅ Management Reporting

This phase involves collecting and summarizing valuable defect metrics to provide detailed reports to stakeholders. It ensures visibility into product quality, the effectiveness of the defect management process in software testing, and potential risks.

This part of the defect management involves the following activities:

• Collecting defect metrics. This can include the total number of defects, defect leakage ratio, defect rejection ratio, time to fix issues, and more.
• Creating reports. It is advisable to focus on data visualization. For instance, dashboards offer a clear view of the results.
• Risk management. It is important to identify critical risk bugs that may negatively impact user experience and lead to loss of revenue.

A serious approach to each of these phases will ensure effective defect management and optimize this crucial aspect of software development.

Targets of Defect Management Process in Software Testing

The defect management process in software testing is critical for ensuring the quality, stability, and reliability of digital solutions. It has the following goals:

→ Ensuring Premium Software Quality. By identifying and fixing bugs early in the development process, teams can prevent critical defects from making it to the production environment.

→ Early Detection and Prevention of Issues. A well-organized DMP enables the detection of errors during the development phase, and ideally, during the software design phase. This reduces the cost of fixing them and helps meet project deadlines.

→ Minimizing Risks. The defect management process in software testing allows identifying critical issues that may cause major system failures and, in the end, adversely affect user experience and company revenue.

→ Improving Collaboration on the Project. DMP contributes to improving communication between developers, testers, and the project management team. This ensures that all stakeholders are informed about the status, resolution, and risk of defects.

→ Timely Error Resolution. The described process ensures the timely resolution of errors. This allows the software product to be released on schedule without unnecessary delays.

By accomplishing all of the aforementioned objectives, DMP assists teams in being more productive and reaching the intended results.

Benefits of the Defect Management Process for the Team

Teams should think about including DMP into their projects because it offers a number of benefits:

• Automation of bug detection and resolution. There is a wide range of automation tools available for defect tracking, such as Jira, Trello, Asana, and others. These tools optimize team workflows across all stages of the defect lifecycle.
• Cost Savings. As mentioned earlier, early detection and resolution of incidents reduce costs. After all, it is much cheaper than fixing them at later stages of development or after the release.
• Improving customer satisfaction. The culture of continuous improvement fostered by DMP contributes to a smoother and more comfortable user experience. This is possible because fewer errors reach the end user.
• Improving team productivity. An effective DMP reduces the amount of required rework. Additionally, thanks to an organized system, teams spend less time identifying, tracking, and resolving issues, which boosts the overall productivity of specialists.
• Ensuring Process Transparency. Quality reporting is an integral part of the defect management process in software testing. Various documents, including defect reports and reports of resolution, help all stakeholders stay informed about the development progress and objectively assess existing risks.

To take full advantage of DMP, make sure the process is properly organized!

Disadvantages in the Defect Management Process

Although DMP has obvious benefits, this process is not without its limitations. Yes, teams may encounter the following issues:

• Increased overhead and resource intensity. Defect management requires dedicated resources for tracking and identifying problems. This can overload teams and increase project costs.
• Complexity of workflows. If too much attention is given to incidents, teams may feel burnout and resist the implementation of DMP. Additionally, difficulties may arise from learning new tools.
• Risk of misunderstanding. Lack of proper documentation can lead to misinterpretation of the nature and severity of an issue. This can cause communication breakdowns both within the team and across departments.
• Excessive focus on tracking bugs. By focusing too much on DMP, teams may overlook other important tasks in the development process. This can also lead to delays in new releases.
• Dependence on automation tools. The effectiveness of DMP largely depends on the right defect tracking tool and the skill level of specialists.

It is impossible to produce software of superior quality without DMP. However, poor implementation can cause certain problems, including increased overhead costs, missed deadlines, and low team morale.

Effective Defect Management: Tips & Tricks

Below are some tips for effectively organizing the defect management process in software testing:

• Standardize procedures, establish roles, and distribute responsibilities.
• Use automation tools that meet the needs of your project.
• Ensure clear and detailed documentation.
• Categorize errors by severity and impact to properly prioritize their resolution.
• Ensure effective communication within the team and beyond.
• Monitor issue resolution times to ensure project deadlines are met.
• Continuously review and improve processes.

By applying these best practices, companies will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of DMP. In turn, this will contribute to the delivery of high-quality digital solutions and increased user satisfaction.