Defect Management

If you want to correct defects reliably, you need a well-thought-out system for recording, communicating, and managing the defects, faults, and other issues that testing reveals. All the activities that this comprises make up the process known as defect management.²²

Define the workflow for registering and processing incidents and defects

A defect management process consists of agreements and rules that define exactly how each defect report is structured, and a workflow that determines who is responsible for dealing with them and when. The process begins with the creation of a report and ends when the reported issue is solved.

The content, scope, and stringency of the process vary from company to company, but it is crucial that everyone involved (designers, developers, testers, product owner, and so on) all adhere strictly to the process once it has been defined.

A defect report should be created every time a new failure becomes known (for example, when a user calls the hotline with an issue) or a previously unknown fault is discovered (for example, a programmer discovers an inconsistency in a requirement). Usually though, the starting point is a test result originating from a planned test execution.