NO MORE BUGS: The Ideal Result of Testing

Defect management is essential to software projects. A lot of teams take the bug submission rate, the number of bugs submitted against the total number of bugs, as the KPI of testing teams. However, the ideal state of testing should be NO MORE BUGS. Read the following story and you will know what I am trying to say here.

The King of Wei once ask Bian Que, a famous doctor in ancient China, " You have two brothers who are also good at medicine. Among you three, who is the best?"

"The eldest is the best, and the second eldest is second best, which means I am the worst. " said Bian Que.

The king was very confused, and asked Bain Que to further explain it.

Bian Que said, "The eldest brother always cure the patients before it shows any symptoms on them. His patients didn't even know they were sick and his treatment is not credited by his patient. Consequently, he cannot be famous for his medicine. Only our family know that he is really good. My second eldest brother always prescribes medicine when there is a symptom. His patients would not be in great pain, because it just started to show. With his medicine, patients can be cured. Therefore, it is believed that he can cure minor illnesses. I am quite the opposite. I only prescribe when patients are very painful due to the disease and their family are very concerned and worried about it. They will see me using all my skills and operating on the patients. Then their serious condition will be alleviated or cured. That is how I become famous. "

Then the king was enlightened.

It is the same as to testing teams. Testing should be implemented from the very beginning of production, such as in each requirement/story, the design of framework, and coding. Try the best to do the right thing from the beginning, rather than submit bugs in testing.