Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 16-3. Bugfix costs as a function of the development stage
Finding and fixing issues during the requirements and design phase is not very expensive.
However, the cost goes up the further out in the development lifecycle you go. When you
wait to find bugs after they have been coded, the costs are 20 times to 50 times greater than if
you had caught them earlier. During the production phase, the cost is 150 times greater.
This graphic serves as a good reminder of how you should always approach a Chef coding
project:
1. Code right the first time, because it costs a lot more to fix things later.
2. Find bugs and issues as early as possible, ideally before they ever get in, or at least as
close to the time of coding as possible.
3. Make changes in small batches—the smaller the change, the less likely you are to in-
troduce a lot of new defects. It's also easier to test in small batches.
