Bugs like company; atleast this is what we observe as we test applications of various shapes & sizes. Continuing on the Pareto principle from an earlier post, the likelihood of finding bugs in an area where you have already found many bugs is pretty high - few areas contribute the most bugs.
Normally, an analysis of defects would show that the distribution tends to be concentrated around certain areas of the application. This concentration could be due to a host of factors including – the complexity of those areas, constantly changing or unclear requirements, poor coding standards or reviews, coder (in)experience and so on.
Given that bugs like to be together, our focus should be on putting a larger part of our test efforts on those areas where most defects have been reported. In addition, defect analysis may be useful while planning testing for the next release of the application – we would plan on putting more efforts in those areas that carry the higher risk of potential bugs relative to the stabler areas.
Normally, an analysis of defects would show that the distribution tends to be concentrated around certain areas of the application. This concentration could be due to a host of factors including – the complexity of those areas, constantly changing or unclear requirements, poor coding standards or reviews, coder (in)experience and so on.
Given that bugs like to be together, our focus should be on putting a larger part of our test efforts on those areas where most defects have been reported. In addition, defect analysis may be useful while planning testing for the next release of the application – we would plan on putting more efforts in those areas that carry the higher risk of potential bugs relative to the stabler areas.
