Reducing the Effect of Defect Technical Debt

Defect technical debt is the known defects awaiting a fix in the backlog. In general, technical debt refers to the overall cost of making quick fixes or taking shortcuts to support rapid deployment. Defects are a unique manifestation of technical debt because when left unfixed they accumulate over time, growing larger with each release, affecting regression testing quality and efficiency. It’s challenging to test an application fully during regression with broken functionality. 

Technical debt can be classified as either Unintentional or Intentional. Unintentional tech debt includes defects reported that aren’t fixed within the same release iteration, missed customer requirements, and poor UI/UX design implementations. Intentional tech debt occurs when code includes temporary connections, stubs, or mocks that must be reworked in the next release. Any temporary code and development team knowledge that developers must rework in the future is intentional technical debt. 

To provide a positive customer experience, regression testing is crucial: it checks that tech debt of any type does not result in additional defects. In general, regression testing helps ensure that when code is changed, the changes do not break functionality or any dependencies. Regression testing evaluates the software’s functionality. Combined with a user-centric testing approach, testers use regression testing to identify defects, ensure software stability, mitigate risks, and prioritize impacts for the end user. Regression testing enables QA testing teams to positively impact customer satisfaction and enhance the quality of the user experience.

Managing regression test suites is a challenging task. Keeping the regression suites executable and returning efficient and accurate results is key. The goal is to keep the QA testing team running at optimal speed, actively collaborating, and finding new defects. What happens when regression suites are not updated? Chaos. It forms quickly when testers attempt to execute regression tests with known defects or technical debt. If testers cannot be validated, the test execution fails, whether automated or manual. Next, testers invest time trying to recreate known issues, updating tests, and linking defects. 

Testing teams must make choices on how to manage test suites. The first choice to make when managing regression test suites is how to group tests for execution. Many teams group regression tests based on feature or functional groups, and then categorize them by integration impact or other logical areas. One way to ensure that all functionality is covered by testing — regardless of being blocked by existing defects — is to group functional areas into specific functional suites or customer workflow suites. 

For example, when testing a U.S. federal tax program where the income percentage calculation includes a defect that adds an extra $1,000.00 to a tax bill, testers can block the specific percentage calculation test and remove it temporarily from the regression suite. The calculation functionality in general will be fully covered by other specific functional tests. Teams can mark tests as blocked to prevent testers from attempting to execute them, or opt to move blocked tests into a particular folder for updating as defects are fixed and retested by the team. 

Working collaboratively, testing teams can also assist with managing test suites by marking tests as blocked when reporting defects. Consider creating a checklist for testers to manage tests in the regression suite if a reported bug is not fixed before the next regression test execution period. Checklists ensure team members are on the same page and following the same process. The process applies to both manual and automated testing. With automated tests, an additional step may be necessary to ensure the tests can run through the entire suite without getting out of sync, which can lead to false failures and wasted time trying to recreate issues. Keeping the regression suite clean and still providing adequate test coverage is essential for quality testing results. 

The next process QA testing teams need to plan for is whether testers must track defects or rely on Agile processes like standups or reviews to manage test suites. Defect tracking within the testing team enables internal monitoring of defect status, specifically for managing regression suites to ensure test quality and maintain efficient testing processes. Many QA testing teams rely on daily standup meetings and other review meetings during the iteration to manage which defects developers fix and which defects remain in the backlog.  

Using existing meetings to manage tech debt improves team efficiency. The trick is making sure that the team actively uses code reviews, refactoring code sessions, and defined best practices. After all, tech debt issues are a problem for the entire development team, not only the testing team. When tech debt rolls over from one iteration to another, teams should plan ways to eliminate or manage it. 

However, other QA testing teams track defects by linking them to test cases. The testers are responsible for blocking tests and updating them when defects are fixed. It all depends on the team and whether they are experienced and collaborative enough to change regression suites without negatively impacting test execution. In other words, if the testing team can be relied on to track defects and manage test suites, all the better. Ensure that the process is thoroughly documented and included in QA testing training programs. 

Communication and collaboration are simple concepts that involve team members freely exchanging information and asking questions. These two concepts are key in managing technical debt. Collaborative testing teams are exceptionally efficient at keeping test execution moving along with less chaos and confusion. Testers know what to test, where, and how. Within the team, testers can ask about known defects and any impacts on the functionality under test. When testing teams communicate well, the QA process runs efficiently and effectively. Collaboration and emotional intelligence skills are critical for building teams capable of working together in Agile or other rapid development methodologies. 

Communication and collaboration reduce duplicate bug reports or automated failure analysis time. The key for QA testing teams is to ensure that every tester actively participates in all development team functions such as stand-ups, design reviews, backlog grooming, and user story reviews. Testers must thoroughly research and review information and ask questions. Questions help clarify any confusion and build working relationships among team members. It’s crucial that testers prepare for meetings and discussions to c develop in-depth knowledge typically held by developers. 

When QA testers understand requirements and actively participate, it builds the respect and trust that collaborative teams thrive on. Developers are essential resources for understanding and learning the subtle details of application functionality. They typically understand tools and make great resources when testers need to test APIs or build unit or automated test scripts. Developers also know where defects are and how to correct them. Collaborate with developers to mitigate tech debt stemming from known defects and enhance both application and test quality. 

Defect tech debt becomes a problem for most development teams as an application matures. As more tests are created, the challenge becomes managing the volume and keeping tests up to date as features and functionality change. Accurately managing test suites helps ensure that regression testing quality remains high. When tech debt goes unmanaged, tests quickly fail, causing excessive churn as testers manually work to verify defects and update tests. Keep application quality high and testing processes efficient by managing test suites and defect technical debt.