The Debugging-oriented phase from Gelperin and Hetzel's evolutionary testing model is associated with Maturity Level 1 "Initial" of TMMi. At this maturity level, testing is not yet a distinct and well-defined process but is often interleaved with debugging. Organizations at this level have chaotic and ad-hoc testing activities, with no separation between testing and debugging.

Maturity Level 1 organizations lack formal processes, and testing is often reactive, performed alongside fixing bugs in the code. This is in line with the debugging-oriented phase, where testing and debugging are seen as part of the same activity.

TMMi References:

The TMMi framework draws directly from the evolutionary model of Gelperin and Hetzel, associating the Debugging-oriented phase with Level 1, which describes a chaotic, unmanaged testing environment​​.