Orthogonal Defect Classification—A Concept for In-Process Measurements

Abstract

This paper describes orthogonal defect classification (ODC), a concept that enables in-process feedback to developers by extracting signatures on the development process from defects. The ideas are evolved from an earlier finding that demonstrates the use of semantic information from defects to extract cause-effect relationships in the development process. This finding is leveraged to develop a systematic framework for building measurement and analysis methods. This paper • defines ODC and discusses the necessary and sufficient conditions required to provide feedback to a developer; • illustrates the use of the defect type distribution to measure the progress of a product through a process; • illustrates the use of the defect trigger distribution to evaluate the effectiveness and eventually the completeness of verification processes such as inspection or testing; • provides sample results from pilot projects using ODC; •opens the doors to a wide variety of analysis techniques for providing effective and fast feedback based on the concepts of ODC. © 1992 IEEE