Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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Changing requirements
—This is one of the most important sources of
defects in software. A change in requirements upsets the whole project,
from design to build to testing to deployment. In extreme situations, it
may lead to the throwing away of all already designed and built software.
In other cases, it may lead to significant change required in existing design
and build. Sometimes a small change required in one module of software
may lead to significant changes required in other dependent modules.
These factors result in the introduction of inadvertently introduced defects
in the software.
Overloading of resources
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—Due to intangibility and the abstract nature of
any software product, it is very difficult to make a good schedule for software
projects. This results in bad scheduling, which causes many software profes-
sionals to be overloaded. This results in more introductions of defects in the
software. Most of the time software professionals find it difficult to meet
deadlines, and this results in hasty and less careful work, resulting in more
defects in the software.
Less skillful resources
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—The software profession needs very skilled and
experienced professionals. Many times less skilled professionals are recruited
due to lack of skilled professionals in the market. This results in introduction
of more defects in the software.
Unprofessional attitude
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—Many times professionals on the project have
attitude problems. They take their assignments lightly, play office politics, or
try to shun their assigned work and off-load it to other members of the team.
These tactics not only create problems in meeting deadlines for the project
but also result in introduction of more defects in the software.
Poor documentation
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—This is another primary source of defects in the
software. In the case of smaller projects where some form of extreme pro-
gramming or agile programming is followed, less documentation is accept-
able because the project team is located at one place, and due to smaller
software, complexity is less. But in the case of bigger projects where the
team may be located at different sites and where software requirements are
complex, good documentation is very important. Otherwise, the team runs
a great risk of introducing more defects. Another aspect of poor documen-
tation is difficulty in maintaining the software application after it goes into
production.
Development tools
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—In today's fast-paced business environment, project
teams use many tools to increase their productivity. Some of these tools
include visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, RAD (rapid
application development), integrated development studios, integration tools,
and so on. Many times these tools introduce their own defects, and some-
times, due to their poor documentation, help in adding defects.
