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Fixing vs Preventing Defects

March 12, 2026

The way a team handles defects reveals much about how their organisation approaches quality. When every defect must be added to a sprawling backlog with excruciatingly detailed information, it often signals a codebase burdened by technical debt and a product suffering from the consequences of that. Some of these defects may (or may never) be fixed in so-called “stabilisation sprints”.

In contrast, consider a team that is focused on preventing defects in the first place. They rigorously apply techniques like TDD, ATDD, and BDD to accomplish this. Whenever a defect does slip through, the team pauses all other work and addresses it immediately. This reflects a fundamentally different mindset: no reliance on bug-tracking tools, and no time wasted on defect reporting. But more importantly, a focus on building in quality.

If you and your team want to learn more about how to write maintainable unit tests and get the most out of TDD practices, make sure to have look at my trainings and workshops or check out the books section. Feel free to reach out at infonull@nullprincipal-itnull.be.

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Jan Van Ryswyck

Thank you for visiting my blog. I’m a professional software developer since Y2K. A blogger since Y2K+5. Provider of training and coaching in XP practices. Curator of the Awesome Talks list. Past organizer of the European Virtual ALT.NET meetings. Thinking and learning about all kinds of technologies since forever.

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The opinions expressed on this blog are my own personal opinions. These do NOT represent anyone else’s view on the world in any way whatsoever.

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Thank you for visiting my website. I’m a professional software developer since Y2K. A blogger since Y2K+5. Author of Writing Maintainable Unit Tests. Provider of training and coaching in XP practices. Curator of the Awesome Talks list. Thinking and learning about all kinds of technologies since forever.

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