'Fix One Software Bug, Create Three More' Syndrome — Part 2: Why is It Happening? *

Understanding Software, and Peopleware: The Role of Human Factors

In this article series:

• Part 1: Symptoms and Consequences

• Part 2: Why is it happening? *

• Part 3: Solution: Automated End-to-End (UI) Regression Testing

• Part 4: Why is this syndrome still unresolved at many software teams?

To address a syndrome, we must first understand its causes.

Let's briefly review how Toby (a typical programmer) fixes a defect:

1. Stops his current work

2. Opens the defect report

3. Attempts to reproduce the defect

4. Fixes the defect

5. Verifies the fix

6. Marks the defect as done

Now, let’s focus on the tasks that Toby, the developer, performed. Of course, the 'Fix One Software Bug, Create Three More' Syndrome shows that the so-called “Mandatory Code Review” is ineffective, manual regression testing is no good, and the “CI/CD pipeline” is merely a facade. (See at the bottom of my other articles on these topics)

Dear readers, can you determine the underlying causes? Here are my analyses from seven different perspectives.

1. Developers often don't like stopping their current task to fix bugs, as it doesn't contribute to their performance matrix.