Over the past few years, there has been an increase in customer demands, the demand for customization and therefore, the complexity and challenges of the global value chain have inflated. These challenges and complications in the era of agile and DevOps have forced the companies to seek out new and innovative ways to keep up with the market.
In an attempt to uncover new ways of increasing efficiency and productivity, while expanding the capacity for innovation and customization at a large scale, organizations across the globe resort to digitally transformative techniques like the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Internet of things (IoT) is the buzzword and the talk of the century, which has been implemented across many industries thanks to the rapid development of digitization and digital transformation efforts. IoT is essentially a network of connected devices from smartphones and laptops to home appliances and vehicles, which facilitates the collection and exchange of data across multiple platforms from the convenience of the customers.
In simpler terms, the Internet of Things is essentially a connection between distinguishable embedded devices with internet infrastructure that not only communicates and exchanges large quantities of data, but they also upload them to the cloud for data storage.
Bugs and defects are an inevitable part of the application development lifecycle; in a simple software application an issue that is detected can be resolved simply but it becomes automatically more challenging in an Internet of things system where an issue in one device can directly impact the information transmission on another device.
Once a defect has been identified in the system, it can adversely affect the whole network of connected devices and snowball into a much larger issue if it is not managed properly. In the fast-paced tech world, the size of the software projects is growing rapidly, the scope of the project and user requirements are becoming more complex, which in turn increases the impact and the frequency of the software bugs in the system.
Hence, proficient defect tracking tools are necessitated for the IoT systems for effective management of bugs, to ensure the quality of the applications, and to reduce the time consumption in the IoT software application development cycle by a significant margin.
How Defect Tracking Facilitates Developers in the Age of IoT
Detection of the bugs in the application is easier and simpler as compared to the management and organization of the issues; actively tracking the progress of the defects, continuously monitoring them, allocating and managing them, and creating meticulous reports on the bugs is not only time-consuming but it also requires a great deal of effort from the team. This is why an effective defect tracking tool plays an important role in the quality and timely delivery of IoT projects.
These tools help the teams to use a wider lens and to align and assimilate their activities in one place. With these tools at their disposal, the testers can detect any problems in the early phases of the application development, schedule and prioritize it based on its impact, assign it to the relevant team members, tracks its progress and status, and create a comprehensive report for the issue outlining all associated comments and history.
To effectively track, manage, and organize the bugs and issues which have been reported through the process of automation testing, a central bug repository that has shared access plays an important role. By providing a communication platform and shared knowledge for the developers and testers across the organization, the defect tracking system improves the quality of the end product through effective team collaboration.
In a complicated system of connected devices, monitoring the progress or the life cycle of a defect or big might be challenging, however, with this system the teams can continuously monitor the bug as it moves through different stages. Defect tracking systems arm the quality assurance teams with information-rich formats and interactive dashboards which enable them to discover patterns and trends of repetitive defects in the system for future references.
Moreover, with the defect tracking system, users are also able to create customized and detailed reports which specifically cater to their issues through the two integration features. The customizable fields in this software make it easier for the users to add, delete, or modify any fields or modules as per their unique specifications or requirements. Defect tracking provides an ideal working environment for teams in an agile organization through a shared platform where teams across the board (developers and testers) can communicate and collaborate easily with shared knowledge.
As the bugs and issues which are reported and logged on one platform can be accessed through another platform in this system, it is ensured that all teams (technical or non-technical) are on the same page when it comes to defect management. Flexible reporting of defects and use cases is one of the most beneficial aspects of defect tracking systems as users can report defects independent of the test cycles and project units so that they can use them in the future again.
This simplifies the process, reduces the effort, and eliminates the need to create duplicate defect reports as the previous reports which are applicable in the new case can be used. With the introduction of agility in the operations and an effective approach for management through the defect tracking, companies can reduce their costs, create new sources for revenue, and optimize their business processes as well.
Conclusion
With the rapid development of the Internet of things industry across the globe, defect tracking and management can longer be considered as an afterthought, and to be implemented after the development process has been completed.
The efficient elimination of defects from the IoT application systems is critical to its growth and survival in the customers’ choice list, especially with the rising competition in the market. Therefore, it can be stated that defect tracking and management is essentially the backbone of the IoT network system.
