Issues Vs Defects

[dinaker prasad]

This applies to CMM3 & CMM 4 artifacts. Almost all peer-review artifacts I reviewed, use defects and issues as though they mean the same.

Aren't defects and issues completely different, shouldn't they be approached in totally different ways. The template i found are well suited when we find defects, but when we have issues I don�t feel the templates is assisting in bring the issue to focus and document how/when it was mitigated.

Can issue be treated as a defect when collecting data for defect management.
If issues cannot be treated as defects don't they need to differentiated explicitly when entering data into Peer-reviews..

Can someone please comment on the above concern.

thanks
Dinaker

[Lasse Koskela]

I would say that the difference, if any, between a "defect" and an "issue" is completely up to the project to define. In other words, I don't think that CMM as such has anything to say about what a defect or an issue should be.

[dinaker prasad]

One of the KPA's of CMM level 3 is Peer-reviews.

CMM doesn't say/define what an issue or defect is. All of the peer-review forms i came across use these words as if they are interchangeable.

As far as my experince/knowledge goes issues and defects are very different.
Issues --> area of concern which a reviewer brings up - issues can have options : alternatives : agreement

defects are errors found in the artifacts. like spelling/grammer errors etc.

When it comes to defect management, are issues considered to be defects, its makes very little sense to consider issues as defects for defect management , but this is what we are doing.jsut wanted to know if other organization treat defects the same way

thanks
Dinaker

[Ilja Preuss]

Well, isn't a defect one type of an issue, then?

[dinaker prasad]

I dont believe defect is a type of issue.
issue are areas of concern when not adressed CAN BE POTENTIAL RISK ITEMS.

thanks
Dinaker

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by dinaker prasad:
I dont believe defect is a type of issue.
issue are areas of concern when not adressed CAN BE POTENTIAL RISK ITEMS.

We're arguing about something (the meaning of the term "issue") that varies between each and every company on the planet. Well, maybe not each and every but still.

For example, in my current client's vocabulary, an issue can be both a recognized risk yet to realize or an already realized risk. However, in our environment, defects have nothing to do with documents and are solely reserved for referring to a gap between how some system/software works and how its users wanted it to work. Sometimes, a defect is caused by a mistake made by the developer, sometimes a defect is caused by both the customer and the developer by not managing to understand each other quite perfectly.

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by Lasse Koskela:

We're arguing about something (the meaning of the term "issue") that varies between each and every company on the planet. Well, maybe not each and every but still.

True.

When reading documents like CMM handbooks, I'd expect some consistency, though.

[Stan James]

I think it all depends on your use of the data. You can do statistical stuff with defect rates to determine when a release is (probably) sound enough to ship. (I took a grad level class in software quality and that sentence is about all I remember. ) I'd see issues as things we don't know or understand and have to figure out. They don't necessarily represent any kind of process problem or software problem, just part of life.

Somebody mentioned risk: I used to define risk as anything that threatens the schedule, but recently stole "uncertainty in the plan" from an XP discussion board.

These are such widely abused terms (quite possibly by me just now) that it's good to do a 60-second level set any time you start to talk about them with somebody new.

[dinaker prasad]

what is defect management ??

whats the idea behind having a defect manamgent in a software process.

thanks
Dinaker

[dinaker prasad]

Guys,

This text from MBASE methodology - differentiates issues and defects

What's a defect?
� Orthogonal Defect Categorization specialists forced to
conclude the ONLY objective way to know there is/was a
defect is because of [compound] change in the artifact or
code! ONLY exception is Fagan's Inspections (CS577b)
� Defects are determined ONLY by the responsible Author of
an artifact
� Typically start out as concerns in informal or agile reviews

What's an "issue"

� Concerns that can NOT be fixed by the author of the
artifact under review
� In developments with large numbers of people or cycles,
issues are usually tracked to closure.


can some one comment on

what is defect management ??

whats the idea behind having a defect manamgent in a software process.

thanks
Dinaker

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by dinaker prasad:
what is defect management ??

whats the idea behind having a defect manamgent in a software process.

When you have a defect in your software, you have to deal with it somehow and that's what defect management is all about -- a process for dealing with defects.

[Stan James]

Orthogonal Defect Categorization specialists

Is that a job description to impress your mother's friends or what!