Design – Build – Run: Applied Practices and Principles for Production-Ready Software Development

3.5. Defect Management (and Fix) Mobilization

Defect management (and fix) mobilization is going to be very important. As you've seen, once the formal test activities are initiated, you're going to see a number of defects raised. However, defects can be raised at any point during the project lifecycle. For example, designers can raise defects against the requirements; developers can raise defects against the design; and testers can raise defects against the solution. Of course, a lot of this depends on the methodology and approach.

As defects are encountered and raised, they need to be tracked, verified, and resolved. Defect management also encompasses management reporting. At various points throughout the project it's important to understand the number of "open" defects, their severity and priority, and so on. The reports help to shape how the project progresses. If entry and exit criteria are based on the number and severity of defects, the reports will help to compile the current picture and provide status reporting. It's important to understand the reporting requirements because they will help to shape the defect-tracking system and guide how it should be used. Each team may also have specific reporting requirements.

While individuals normally raise defects, it is possible that your tools can also raise defects automatically. For example, the regular integration system can raise a defect automatically to indicate a broken build, or the regression test tools can automatically ...