Defects – what is the status of the software?

Most people think of a list of defects as a to-do list. They must figure out what needs to be fixed, send them on to the programmers to fix, wait for a fix, get a fix, test the fix, test around the fix, and either send it back for another fix or move on to the next item.

But the bug list is more than a work queue. It is your ticket to the known status of the software. It is your ticket to improvement. Done well, an ordered open bug list is a quick view of a status – publish it. Looking at the recent list of bugs that have been opened and fixed can guide your testing – especially bugs that escape team-level testing and are found by customers. These give you a chance to figure out what is missing in your test strategy. Consistent bugs and defect categories that appear again and again offer two methods of improvement. First, you can add them to your list of common bugs and test that category with every new build. Second...