ODC - Orthogonal Defect Classification

Summary

This paper presents a method to look at the relative growth of defects classified using Orthogonal Defect Classification to gain insight into the behavior of the overall growth curve. This is particularly useful when there is trouble during the development and testing process, identifiable by the overall growth curve, but not providing further insight for management response. Given the pressures in the market, and the speed with which development currently progresses, it is not uncommon that some development efforts find themselves in a difficult position during the latter parts of testing. In such cases, gaining insight into the cause of difficulty is critical for taking the right corrective action.

The contributions of this paper are:

1. Illustrating a method to qualitatively understand the relative growth curve, using a key milestone of a growth curve, which we call the point. Comparing the relative occurrence of the point between growth curves of different defect types, provides insight into the relative rates at which the different aspects of the product are stabilizing.
2. Illustrating the use of this method on a real world example. The example shows a growth curve, where the traditional methods would identify an alarm, without providing any additional insight to deal with the problem. The split of the growth curves, using the ODC defect types, is capable of guiding specific actions to correct the problems.
3. The insight and prediction of the relative growth of specific aspects of the product, identified by the defect type categories, provides a method to evaluate risk. Risk appears in several dimensions. The two more critical ones are schedule and warranty costs. The relative growth models provide the means to determine the skill mix and the staffing levels needed to reduce both risks.

Developers find this a useful method, giving them insight they did not have before. It also provides a reasonable level of quantification to help make better management decisions to significantly impact cost and opportunity.

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