Vector Software Quantifies the Cost of Fixing Bugs versus Preventing Bugs

Inspired by the book “How Google Tests Software” (Whittaker, Arbon, Corollo), the paper uses numbers and best practices found by the Google™ organization as they refined their legendarily sound software application release process.  The paper features an example based on a mid-sized automotive project, using figures derived from the Google example. In addition, the paper provides a formula that allows managers to estimate what poor software quality is costing their organization. Most importantly, the paper shows that by adopting a measured approach to test automation, companies can significantly reduce these numbers. By adopting an approach that embraces the value of prevention, instead of fixing, organizations can free up valuable engineering resources for innovation and new product development, enabling them to carve out a greater share of the markets they serve.

“It’s been well established that the cost of eliminating bugs early in the development process is much cheaper than fixing them at the conclusion of a project”, said Bill McCaffrey, Chief Operating Officer, Vector Software. “Organizations that prevent bugs instead of fixing them have a clear advantage over those that don’t, and now they have an easy way to obtain actionable data about the size and cost of their software quality issues.”