There we were, surfing through release day, everyone on the team high-fiving each other, deadlines that sweated barely. And then… the inevitable bug showed up.

It was not some minor, “Oh, let’s tweak that” bug, but rather a full-blown, “Everything’s on fire!” bug that was discovered just when we were getting ready for deployment.

The classic nightmare scenario: it was something we could have easily spotted during development, but instead, it was a ninja that was hiding in the code like a ghost. Now, instead of enjoying the moment, we are rushing around. A quick fix in the early stages has turned into a project that looks like open-heart surgery.

What is the cause of such pain? It’s repairing bugs last-minute, essentially restructuring the already built and painted house. So, don’t think of you just as debugging the code; you are even drawing people from other projects, causing the timelines to be delayed, and maybe even angering clients who were led to believe that they would get their project delivered on the due date. Moreover, I should add that every hour spent here costs the company money that vanishes without a trace.

Researchers have discovered that resolving a problem detected late into a software development life cycle is way too costly – sometimes, it can be as much as 100 times dearer than if it were detected and fixed during the development process. This is because the bug has already spread to other parts of the system and affects the workflow at this stage. Regression testing and re-testing, if necessary, we may even re-write the code in question.

And it’s not merely your spending that is affected. As a result, it creates a no-win situation where the team is unable to innovate and is instead caught in a vicious cycle of redundant fixes. The irony is, had we caught that bug earlier, we could’ve dealt with it in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost, with a lot less stress.

The catch? Bugs are costly not only for one thing. Early testing, thorough reviews, and constant vigilance make you save money, time, and sanity. The real cost of a late bug is the fact that it is not just about fixing code, it is also about everything that goes down with it.

So, remember: to squash them early, and keep your budget (and your team) intact.