5.5 Defect Management

Question 1

Why is an established defect management process essential?

Answer 1

Because finding and tracking defects is perhaps the most important of major test objectives.

Question 2

Although we refer to them as part of defect management, what might the reported items be aside from real defects?

Answer 2

False positives, change requests, user error. This is determined during the process of reviewing defect reports.

Question 3

During what phase of the SDLC may defects be reported?

Answer 3

Any phase.

Question 4

What are the objectives of a typical defect report?

Answer 4

• Provide sufficient information to resolve the issue for those responsible for handling reported defects
• Provide a means of tracking the quality of the work product
• Provide ideas for improvement of the development and test process

Question 5

What does a defect report logged during dynamic testing typically include?

Answer 5

• unique identifier
• title with summary of the anomaly
• date when the anomaly was observed, and who found it, including organization and role
• context of the defect (test case or activity being performed, SDLC phase, test technique, checklist or data being used)
• description of the failure including the steps that detected the anomaly, and any relevant logs, file dumps, screenshots, or recordings
• expected results and actual results
• severity of the defect
• priority to fix
• status of the defect (open, deferred, duplicate, pending fix, pending confirmation testing, re-opened, closed, rejected)
• references to related cases, issues, etc