Getting at ephemeral flaws

Software rarely works as intended when it is initially written. Things go wrong, and developers are commonly understood to form theories and strategies to deal with them. Much of this knowledge relates to ephemeral flaws rather than reported bugs, and is not captured in the software record. As a result, these flaws and understanding about them are neglected in software engineering research. In this paper we describe a study designed to elicit stories from software developers about problems they encounter in their daily work. We also offer preliminary thoughts about the utility of retrospective interviewing in getting at information about ephemeral flaws.