What is an "escaped defect"?

Question

Options

• AA defect that was found by the customer.
• BA defect that was planned to be fixed, but not fixed in a Sprint.
• CA defect the Continuous Integration System failed to catch.

• A
  86% (25)
• B
  10% (3)
• C
  3% (1)

Explanation

An escaped defect is a bug that slips through the development and testing process and reaches the customer - it "escapes" the team's quality controls. Option A is correct because the defining characteristic is that the defect was discovered externally, after release, rather than caught internally.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B describes a deferred defect or carry-over - a known bug intentionally postponed to a future Sprint, which never left the team's awareness.
• C describes a CI failure to catch a bug, but if the defect is still in the codebase and unreleased, it hasn't escaped yet; it only becomes "escaped" once it reaches the customer.

Memory tip: Think of the defect as a prisoner - it "escapes" the jail (your QA process) and gets out into the wild (the customer's hands). If it's still inside the jail, it hasn't escaped, no matter how close it got to the door.

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