Software Reliability Techniques for Real-World Applications

6Techniques

Chapter 4 considers techniques by project phase, where each technique directly or indirectly improves software reliability. In this chapter, we consider 67 techniques. They are introduced as a whole in Section 6.1; then, we consider these techniques by organization. The techniques are divided into techniques typically used by systems engineering (SE), software, reliability engineering, or any project organization. More specifically, Section 6.2 describes techniques typically associated with SE activities, Section 6.3 describes techniques usually used by software personnel, and Section 6.4 describes techniques for reliability engineering organizations. We also consider techniques in Section 6.5 that can be used by any project organization, although many of these techniques are most often associated with quality assurance (QA). Each technique has a short description and often references for further information.

6.1 Introduction to the Techniques

Throughout this book, we have considered the nature of defects and many techniques to prevent, tolerate, or find and remove them. We have also discussed techniques to determine how well we have performed these tasks. In this final chapter, these and other such techniques are described in more detail. The description typically provides enough information that the reader can apply the technique, although references are often included if more information is needed. There are also numerous examples to demonstrate the potential ...