""defects detected in the operations phase (once software is in the field) cost more to fix the earlier they were introduced"""
I've never heard it phrased that way "in industry" (as opposed to academia, where I have no experience). Instead, what I've heard is:
""defects detected in the operations phase (once software is in the field) cost more to fix than those detected and fixed earlier"""
While perhaps not backed up with published results (again, I don't know), just by 1) taking the actual development cost of fixing a bug as constant (which is extremely generous for comparing a bug in dev versus production) and 2) then counting the number of other people involved in identifying and resolving the bug shows it to be true.
I've never heard it phrased that way "in industry" (as opposed to academia, where I have no experience). Instead, what I've heard is:
""defects detected in the operations phase (once software is in the field) cost more to fix than those detected and fixed earlier"""
While perhaps not backed up with published results (again, I don't know), just by 1) taking the actual development cost of fixing a bug as constant (which is extremely generous for comparing a bug in dev versus production) and 2) then counting the number of other people involved in identifying and resolving the bug shows it to be true.