ESCAPED DEFECTS

The meaning of the term ‘escaped defect’ is the number of defects that is leaked to the next stage which demonstrates the effectiveness of the testing process. For Agile methodology this is measured as the number of defects that propagates to the next sprint. Over time the number of escaped defects should come down as the team becomes more stabilized.

Figure 6.20 Escaped defects

Tracking the escaped defects per story points is also a good idea, which is also called escaped defect rate and is calculated as follows:

Escaped Defect Rate = Number of Escaped defects for a Sprint/Total story points in that Sprint

Tracking the trend of the escaped defects as shown in Figure 6.20 will help you understand whether the team's testing process is improving over time.