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commented
1 year ago :microscope: Hello, there! I'm MistakeBot. My purpose is to help you document and reflect on your Human Errors, actions that result in something that was
"not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits [Source]."
In other words, human errors are actions that lead to unintended, unexpected, or undesirable outcomes.
Don't be shy, everyone experiences human errors, and I'm not here to judge. I just want to help you learn from your human errors, so, let's get started!
Step 0: My Assessment
Based on the natural language description of this issue, I suspect your human error is: Mistake, M08: Inadequate Testing
Don't worry, that's just my best guess. If that's wrong, you can use the next steps to determine what actually happened.
Step 1: Slip, Lapse, or Mistake?
There are three types of human error that we are concerned with:
- Slips: Failing to complete a properly planned step due to inattention, such as putting the wrong key in the ignition, or overlooking stakeholder requirements.
- Lapses: Failing to complete a properly planned step due to memory failure, such as forgetting to put the car in reverse before backing up, or forgetting to check if a pointer is non-null before dereferencing it.
- Mistakes: Planning errors that occur when the plan is inadequate, such as getting stuck in traffic because you didn't consider the impact of the bridge closing, or choosing an inadequate sorting algorithm.
Alright, now that you understand slips, lapses, and mistakes, let's label your human error. Start by deciding if this issue resulted from a slip, lapse, or mistake. Once you have determined that, move on to Step 2.
Step 2: Assign Human Error Category
Now that you've determined whether your human error was a slip, lapse, or mistake, select the human error categories below that best describe what happened.
Slips (Attentional Failures)
- [x] S01 Typos & Misspellings: Typos and misspellings may occur in code comments, documentation (and other development artifacts), or when typing the name of a variable, function, or class. Examples include misspelling a variable name, writing down the wrong number/name/word during requirements elicitation, referencing the wrong function in a code comment, and inconsistent whitespace (that does not result in a syntax error).
- [ ] S02 Syntax Errors: Any error in coding language syntax that impacts the executability of the code. Note that Logical Errors (e.g. += instead of +) are not Syntax Errors. Examples include mixing tabs and spaces (e.g. Python), unmatched brackets/braces/parenthesis/quotes, and missing semicolons (e.g. Java).
- [ ] S03 Overlooking Documented Information: Errors resulting from overlooking (internally and externally) documented information, such as project descriptions, stakeholder requirements, API/library/tool/framework documentation, coding standards, programming language specifications, bug/issue reports, and looking at the wrong version of documentation or documentation for the wrong project/software.
- [x] S04 Multitasking Errors: Errors resulting from multitasking.
- [ ] S05 Hardware Interaction Errors: Attention failures while using computer peripherals, such as mice, keyboard, and cables. Examples include copy/paste errors, clicking the wrong button, using the wrong keyboard shortcut, and incorrectly plugging in cables.
- [ ] S06 Overlooking Proposed Code Changes: Errors resulting from lack of attention during formal/informal code review.
- [ ] S07 Overlooking Existing Functionality: Errors resulting from overlooking existing functionality, such as reimplementing variables, functions, and classes that already exist, or reimplementing functionality that already exists in a standard library.
- [ ] S08 General Attentional Failure: Only use this category if you believe your error to be the result of a lack of attention, but no other slip category fits.
Lapses (Memory Failures)
- [ ] L01 Forgetting to Finish a Development Task: Forgetting to finish a development task. Examples include forgetting to implement a required feature, forgetting to finish a user story, and forgetting to deploy a security patch.
- [x] L02 Forgetting to Fix a Defect: Forgetting to fix a defect that you encountered, but chose not to fix right away.
- [ ] L03 Forgetting to Remove Development Artifacts: Forgetting to remove debug log files, dead code, informal test code, commented out code, test databases, backdoors, etc. Examples include leaving unnecessary code in the comments, and leaving notes in internal development documentation.
- [ ] L04 Working with Outdated Source Code: Forgetting to git-pull (or equivalent in other version control systems), or using an outdated version of a library.
- [ ] L05 Forgetting an Import Statement: Forgetting to import a necessary library, class, variable, or function, or forgetting to access a property, attribute, or argument.
- [ ] L06 Forgetting to Save Work: Forgetting to push code, or forgetting to backup/save data or documentation.
- [ ] L07 Forgetting Previous Development Discussion: Errors resulting from forgetting details from previous development discussions.
- [ ] L08 General Memory Failure: Only use this category if you believe your error to be the result of a memory failure, but no other lapse category fits.
Mistakes (Planning Failures)
- [ ] M01 Code Logic Errors: A code logic error is one in which the code executes (i.e. actually runs), but produces an incorrect output/behavior due to incorrect logic. Examples include using incorrect operators (e.g. += instead of +), erroneous if/else statements, incorrect variable initializations, problems with variable scope, and omission of necessary logic.
- [ ] M02 Incomplete Domain Knowledge: Errors resulting from incomplete knowledge of the software system's target domain (e.g. banking, astrophysics).
- [ ] M03 Wrong Assumption Errors: Errors resulting from an incorrect assumption about system requirements, stakeholder expectations, project environments (e.g. coding languages and frameworks), library functionality, and program inputs.
- [x] M04 Internal Communication Errors: Errors resulting from inadequate communication between development team members.
- [ ] M05 External Communication Errors: Errors resulting from inadequate communication with project stakeholders or third-party contractors.
- [x] M06 Solution Choice Errors: Misunderstood problem-solving methods/techniques result in analyzing the problem incorrectly and choosing the wrong solution. For example, choosing to implement a database system in Python rather than using SQL. Overconfidence in a solution choice also falls under this category.
- [ ] M07 Time Management Errors: Errors resulting from a lack of time management, such as failing to allocate enough time for the implementation of a feature or procrastination.
- [x] M08 Inadequate Testing: Failure to implement necessary test cases, failure to consider necessary test inputs, or failure to implement a certain type of testing (e.g. unit, penetration, integration) when it is necessary.
- [ ] M09 Incorrect/Insufficient Configuration: Errors in configuration of libraries/frameworks/environments or errors related to missing configuration options. Examples include misconfigured IDEs, improper directory structure for a specific programming language, and missing SSH keys.
- [ ] M10 Code Complexity Errors: Errors resulting from misunderstood code due to poor documentation or unnecessary complexity. Examples include too many nested if/else statements or for-loops and poorly named variables/functions/classes/files.
- [ ] M11 Internationalization/String Encoding Errors: Errors related to internationalization and/or string/character encoding.
- [ ] M12 Inadequate Experience Errors: Errors resulting from inadequate experience/unfamiliarity with a language, library, framework, or tool.
- [ ] M13 Insufficient Tooling Access Errors: Errors resulting from not having sufficient access to necessary tooling. Examples include not having access to a specific operating system, library, framework, hardware device, or not having the necessary permissions to complete a development task.
- [ ] M14 Workflow Order Errors: Errors resulting from working out of order, such as implementing dependent features in the wrong order, implementing code before the design is stabilized, releasing code that is not ready to be released, or skipping a workflow step.
- [ ] M15 General Planning Failure: Only use this category if you believe your error to be the result of a planning failure, but no other mistake category fits.
Other
- [ ] Other: Only use this category if none of the other categories describe your error.
Step 3: Finished Categorizing
When you are finished categorizing (checking boxes above), please check the following box:
- [x] Finished
Notes
- In Step 0, MistakeBot uses natural language processing (cosine similarity with sentence-BERT) to try and categorize your human error for you. This is an experimental feature and should be verified.
- The human error types in Step 1 come from James Reason's Generic Error-Modelling System (GEMs). You can read more about slips, lapses, and mistakes [here]().
- The specific categories of human error in Step 2 come from the Taxonomy of Human Errors in Software Engineering (T.H.E.S.E.). You can read more about T.H.E.S.E. [here]().
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