- Save money
- Save resources
- Save time
- Save stress
In recent times we have seen high profile examples of the impact that software defects can have on organisations. A focus by these companies on early error detection may have prevented such results and avoided any lasting damage to their reputation.
Finding defects early in software development means organisations can not only realise significant savings to their bottom line performance, but also reduce the impact on their brand.
K. J. Ross & Associates’ 2010 Industry Benchmark Survey results indicate there are high proportions of defects present in the initial requirements and design stages of development.
Yet what seems a simple fix is not, adoption of early error detection techniques presents a major change in attitude. Most respondents to the Benchmark Survey have limited adoption of requirements evaluation and formal inspections, and see limited value by comparison to other techniques. Yet this contradicts research conducted over the past three decades, which cites that techniques such as inspections have higher defect yield, and better than ten times the return on investment through reduced rework costs by finding defects early.
Despite all this evidence, there is still a common perception that early evaluation is expensive because of the upfront costs. The issue is that most managers do not measure or factor in the downstream cost savings.
The effects of not evaluating early are now being painfully felt by these organisations we read about in the media regularly.
Software testing groups need to work more closely with business analysts and development teams to introduce early error detection practices, such as:
- Requirements evaluation
- Requirements, design and code inspections
- Static analysis
- More effective unit testing approaches
K. J. Ross & Associates are industry experts in assisting customers in implementing early error detection practices.
