Software Engineering Institute

This report presents mechanisms for describing and specifying two software measures—software problems and defects—used to understand and predict software product quality and software process efficacy. We propose a framework that integrates and gives structure to the discovery, reporting, and measurement of software problems and defects found by the primary problem and defect finding activities. Based on the framework, we identify and organize measurable attributes common to these activities. We show how to use the attributes with checklists and supporting forms to communicate the definitions and specifications for problem and defect measurements. We illustrate how the checklist and supporting forms can be used to reduce the misunderstanding of measurement results and can be applied to address the information needs of different users.