Reduction of Defect Generation in Software Projects using LSS Approach

LSS

Abstract

A defected software usually couldn’t perform its intended activities and client will not accept and pay for the product. Also, they can ask penalties. To make acceptable to clients, rework will require and more rework effort will make it costlier, profit margin will reduce. Less rework, more profit and improved client satisfaction are correlated and works in integrated form are directly proportional to each other. Lean and Six Sigma are used as process improvement tools in the software organizations. Lean Sigma is combination of Lean and Six Sigma process performance improvement frameworks and is more powerful compared to the individual is approaches. The delivery quality is measured regularly and defects reported was observed. High defect rate was observed during addition of new features or customization of the existing features of the product. This impacted deliverable quality and customer satisfaction both. To address these issues a process improvement initiative was initiated in the development phase with LSS as a tool and Define Measure Analysis Improvement Control (DMAIC) framework as the approach. As an initial step baseline performance was measured and it was 2.8 Sigma (Zst). The detailed data was used for identifying roots causes and formulating action items. Then, detailed defect data was collected and analyzed. Finally, performance level was measured after the initiative and it was 3.3 Sigma (Zlt). Accordingly, the defect generation rate was reduced by 50% which was previously observed as 40%. Therefore, the proposed approach helps in identifying defects, closing and preventing defect generation in early phase of software development.