Defect tracking tools and waste

Defects are waste. User stories with known defects aren’t done and can’t be released, they’re partially complete work or inventory, and they are waste too. If you’re using a defect tracking tool you’re queuing up waste and you’re inspecting for quality after the code’s been written.

Eliminate waste. Avoid queues because they prevent throughput of released software and block the flow of value to the customer. Build quality into the code from the start by fixing defects as you go. To help improve the quality of code, developers should use test-driven development and testers should perform exploratory testing as developers complete vertical slices of user stories. If a defect is found, stop the line and fix it immediately. Don’t queue it up.

ahammad notes:
I like this post very much. I like thinking outside the box. Many times we treat our problems as a fact of life. This must end and we should strive to solve our problems. This is why I like the idea of ISO that stress on each defect to has a corrective action and a preventive action. This idea alone could let organization improve very rapidly.

One of the interesting ideas of Lean Thinking is the focus on the principles, focus should be continue to be on the source code. So you stress to develop automated testing even before the development of the task begin. The automated test say the test is failed. Then you develop the code to pass the automated test cases. This is test driven development.

As a programmer, I like the idea to write even your docs in your code! Why not write the design inside the source code comments and with the help of tools you can generate class diagram and documentation automatically from your code. Want to see, try doxygen. It is full featured, reliable, free, and open source.

Even code comments should not be waste. It should be concise, to the point and is not redundant. If you can rename a method or class to be easy to understand without any comment, do it. Comments are not an objective in its own sake, if it does not add real value, it is a waste.