Software defect management is a process about discovering, recording, tracking, handling and reporting software defects. This is an important part of the software development process that helps the development team maintain the quality of the code and fix issues in a timely manner.
1. Free defect management tools used by early small teams
In the early stage of the project or in the case of a small team, the defect management tools that people often use include spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets; code hosting platforms, such as GitHub, GitLab, etc.; project management tools, by creating cards to represent each defect and categorize them by status (eg pending, in progress, resolved).
When the team size expands to dozens of people and the project scale expands, the shortcomings of using non-professional tools such as spreadsheets begin to show, such as lack of automation, you need to manually enter, update and track information for each defect, which can be very time-consuming Difficulty in collaboration. If multiple people need to access and edit the same form at the same time, version conflicts or data inconsistencies may occur; it is difficult to generate reports, difficulty in rights management, lack of tracking capabilities, and inability to integrate with other link tools.
2. Comparison of professional defect management tools
1. The most recommended defect management platform in China - PingCode
PingCode is a one-stop software development process management tool. Well-known customers include Xiaohongshu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Unicom, etc. In 2021, it will be rated by 36 Krypton as: TOP1 in the domestic R&D project management list. A free basic version is available for teams of up to 25 people.
It has a professional defect management module that can effectively help the team solve defect management problems in four aspects, such as
- Bug problem collection, which supports automatic collection of feedback problems from external users, such as App, web/H5 website and other channels;
- Bug assignment and follow-up, this process supports the setting of members, roles, fields, etc., and viewing bug change records allows members to understand changes in bug status, reducing communication costs;
- Bug problem location and resolution, this process can support defect-related requirements/test tasks, support mainstream developer tools in the market such as Git, jinkens, etc., and have better integration functions;
- Bug data report, PingCode supports rich reports such as defect ID, defect average life cycle, defect response time, defect resolution time, defect re-opening rate, fatal defect proportion, etc.
In addition, PingCode, as a project management system covering the entire life cycle of R&D, is widely used in requirements collection, requirements management, requirements prioritization, product roadmaps, project management (agile/kanban/waterfall), test management, defect Tracking, project document management, performance measurement and other fields. Integrate mainstream tools such as github, gitlab, jinkens, Qiwei, and Feishu.
Advantages: Compared with Jira and Zen Road, it is easy to use and does not require long-term training; the product has mature functions; localization, supports Xinchuang, Kirin, etc.; supports private deployment, customization, and saas purchase methods;
Disadvantages: Multilingual versions are not yet available; project management other than R&D projects cannot be satisfied.
2. Issue tracking software-jira
Jira is a project management software developed by Atlassian, which is mainly used to track, coordinate and solve various problems in the software development process. Jira can help teams efficiently manage project requirements, progress, quality and risks, and improve project success rates.
The main functions of Jira include:
Issue Tracking: Jira can create, assign, update, and close various types of issues, such as failures, improvements, new features, etc., and supports custom fields and workflows to suit different project needs.
Project management: Jira can create and manage multiple projects, set project goals, scope, members and permissions, view project progress, status and reports, and support agile development methods such as Scrum and Kanban.
The advantages of JIRA are flexible configuration, comprehensive functions, simple deployment, and rich extensions. But no one tool can meet everyone's requirements, and jira also has shortcomings. Today, with more and more project management tools, users will choose to switch to other tools because of these shortcomings. The most common of these include:
- Expensive: a team of 100 people costs millions of dollars, while the price of some similar tools is only 30%-40%;
- Stop selling the Server version and force users to go to the cloud: In February 2021, Atlassian officially announced that it will officially stop selling the Server version licenses of its Jira, Confluence and other series of products, and will terminate the support for Server products on February 15, 2024. But it does not set up a data center in the country, so this means to a certain extent that it is banned from selling to domestic users. For specific policies, you can refer to the following article " Jira New Policy Announcement, 2 Coping Strategies for SMEs "
- The software responds very slowly, especially when you use it for a long time;
- Jira is too complicated, and for small and medium-sized teams, or in a short period of time, it increases the burden on the team instead of improving efficiency;
- Professionalism also brings complex configuration. It is not an easy task to establish a complete set of custom fields, workflow, and permission scheme.
【Official address: https://www.atlassian.com/ 】
3. Open source free defect management system - Bugzilla
Bugzilla is an open source defect management tool that helps software development teams track and resolve software defects. The main features of Bugzilla are:
– Support multiple databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc.
– Support multiple operating systems, such as Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc.
– Support multiple browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.
– Supports custom fields, status, priority, severity, etc.
– Support email notification, report generation, search filtering and other functions.
– Support authority management, role assignment, approval process and other mechanisms.
Bugzilla is a mature defect management tool, which has been used by many well-known organizations and projects, such as Mozilla, Red Hat, Apache, etc. Bugzilla improves software quality, improves team collaboration, saves time and money.
【Official address: https://www.bugzilla.org/ 】
4. Open source defect management platform - Redmine
Redmine is an open source project management software that integrates defect tracking tools and is a web-based project management tool. Its characteristic is that it supports multiple projects and sub-projects, and multiple projects can be created on it, and multiple projects can be managed on one platform. Since this software is an open source software, users can perform secondary programming on the software, which meets the development needs of different companies and projects, and ensures differentiation and scalability.
Software advantages: open source and free; multi-language support (Simplified Chinese is already built in); supports multiple databases, such as MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL; rich functions, such as user role control, problem tracking, automatic calendar and Gantt chart drawing, Wiki Form document writing and file management, and can also integrate other version management systems and BUG tracking systems, such as Git, SVN, etc.
Software Cons:
- Higher cost: Although open source software can save a certain amount of development costs, it will bring very high development and maintenance costs. We have calculated an account: the cost of purchasing an online project management system is about 150,000 per year (100-person team); the second open source project management system requires at least one dedicated programmer for development + long-term maintenance, and a The programmer's salary is at least 20W/year, but the staff investment in the early stage of the second opening must be more than one person.
- The function is limited, and the system is always in a "usable" state;
- Potentially less secure: When a software application's source code is publicly available, its security becomes more vulnerable.
Official website: https://www.redmine.org/
5. Abroad free defect management tool - MantisBT
MantisBT is an open source defect management tool that helps software development teams track and resolve software defects. It's an easy-to-use and powerful defect management tool for software projects of all sizes and types. The main features of MantisBT are:
– Support multiple databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, etc.
– Support multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.
– Support multiple languages, such as Chinese, English, French, etc.
– Supports custom fields, workflows, roles, notifications, etc.
– Support plug-in extensions, such as email notification, chart report, time tracking, etc.
– Supports web interface and command line interface
– Support for importing and exporting data
【Official address: https://www.mantisbt.org/ 】
3. How to choose a suitable defect management tool
Here are some dimensions to look out for when choosing a defect management tool:
1. Team needs and tool capabilities: Each team's needs may be different, so the tool chosen should meet those needs. For example, some teams may require powerful reporting and analysis capabilities, while others may require more flexible workflow configuration capabilities.
2. Ease of use: Tools should be easy to use and have a user-friendly interface so that team members can quickly learn and start using them. Otherwise, it can affect the effectiveness of the team if it takes a lot of time and resources to learn and adapt.
3. Integration capabilities: If your team already uses other development tools (such as version control systems, continuous integration/continuous deployment tools), then the defect management tool you choose should be able to integrate well with these tools.
4. Support and maintenance: check whether the developer of the tool provides sufficient technical support and regular updates. It is very important that open source tools have active community support and regular updates.
5. Cost: The cost of the tool includes the purchase price, maintenance costs, and possible training costs. You need to base your evaluation on your budget and the value of the tool (time savings, efficiency gains, etc.).
6. Data security and privacy: If your data contains sensitive information, you need to consider whether the tool provides sufficient security protection, such as data encryption, permission control, etc.
7. Scalability: If you expect your team or project to expand in the future, then you may need a tool that can handle more users, more data, and more complex processes.
8. User feedback and evaluation: View other users' feedback and evaluation of the tool, which can help you understand the actual performance and possible problems of the tool.
These factors may affect the choice of tool, the most important thing is to find a tool that is suitable for your own team and project.