Connecting Practice

Some of the common signs (problems) that show up due to poor quality assurance are as follows:

• deficient document and it’s difficult to interpret;
• fails to meet the business and technical needs;
• unscalable;
• unstable; and
• expensive.

Moreover, some things that can help to solve the problems above are as follows:

• Organization and team structure;
• Practice toolbox selection;
• Professional development;
• Checklists & Templates;
• Reviews and Audits;
• Quality criteria;
• Right Culture; and
• Quality improvement.

Further, two things must be ensured for quality assurance to be effective:

First, the quality plan must be sufficient to achieve the required quality standards expected of the organization. In this regard the plan must not only be specific and detailed listing all quality requirements and standards, but also include all the steps taken to ensure that those requirements and standards are met.

Secondly, quality assurance should be independent of the project itself (as well as the project manager). This comes down from the project management guidelines for effective quality assurance, and builds on a broad-based, organizational approach to standards-based product testing.

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In this context, the measurements to track progress toward achieving the quality goals generally fall into two categories:

1. Perception Measures - These measures are of the customers’ perceptions of the organization (obtained, for example, from customer surveys, focus groups, vendor ratings, compliments and complaints).
2. Performance Indicators - These measures are the internal ones used by the organization in order to monitor, understand, predict and improve the performance of the organization and to predict perceptions of its external customers.

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A workflow can usually be described using formal or informal flow diagramming techniques, showing directed flows between processing steps. Single processing steps or components of a workflow can basically be defined by three parameters:

1. input description: the information, material and energy required to complete the step
2. transformation rules, algorithms, which may be carried out by associated human roles or machines, or a combination
3. output description: the information, material and energy produced by the step and provided as input to downstream steps.

Components can only be plugged together if the output of one previous (set of) component(s) is equal to the mandatory input requirements of the following component. Thus, the essential description of a component actually comprises only in- and output that are described fully in terms of data types and their meaning (semantics). The algorithms’ or rules’ description need only be included when there are several alternative ways to transform one type of input into one type of output - possibly with different accuracy, speed, etc..

Especially when the components are non-local services that are invoked remotely via a computer network, like Web services, additional descriptors like QoS, availability, etc. have to be considered, too.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Below are some lists of quality reviews that typically are used to help build, measure quality, and prevent defects of work, product, service, and/or process deliverables.

Expert Review. Work, product, service, and/or process deliverables are reviewed by QA member who is considered have expert knowledge in the area to check the accuracy of content. This includes finding and correcting defects in the development of the process. Example: To ensure the information is accurate and well constructed prior to submission to project sponsor and client, the QA member needs to deliver Preliminary Business Case by performing Expert Review using the Template for Business Case and Approved Business Case for the Project.

Self-Checking Review. A self-checking review is usually the initial quality inspection for a task, and it may be the only one. The QA member who performs the task checks correctness, completeness, consistency, and conformance to quality standards and fulfillment of quality criteria.

Peer review. Co-workers carry out the peer review of work, product, service, and/or process structure to check quality, spread experience, and communicate ideas and approaches. They check the output of the task, make constructive suggestions, and take the opportunity to learn. Example: To review the final draft for completeness and construction, one needs to perform Peer Review of final draft.

Multi-person Review. A review carried out independently by several QA members to gain agreement between different stakeholders. Meeting or workshop is carried out to resolve differences and reach agreement.

Walk-through - A useful technique to validate both the content and structure of a deliverable, identify potential problems, uncover inconsistencies, find defects, and educate the audience. It encourages critical analysis and is therefore effective for design reviews. Thus, material should be circulated in advance. If particular participants have not done their homework, they should be excluded from this activity. Example: To review early draft for completeness, QA member needs to deliver Project Definition by performing Walk-through of early draft using the Template for Project Definition.

Workshop. Workshop brings stakeholders together with key developers and a professional facilitator to collectively define, analyze, or review solutions. They can be an effective way to build in and verify quality.

Formal review. The project manager or project team holds formal reviews with the project sponsor and client to obtain agreement on an issue or acceptance of work, product, service, and/or process. The contract sometimes specifies the scheduling and content of formal reviews. Typically, they are held on completion of a milestone. Example: To ensure the Business Case is in a fit state to be submitted to the Finance Review Committee, QA member needs to deliver Final Business Case by performing the Formal Inspection using the Template for Business Case.

Standard Audit. Carried out by QA member who is only focused on ensuring the deliverable meets a particular standard(s) and specification(s). That is, it focuses on compliance with the standard(s) and specification(s). It should be planned and implemented during each phase of the project.

Formal Inspection. A review of a deliverable by an inspector who would typically be external to the project team. The inspector captures statistics on suspected defects. It is a useful technique for use with documentation.

Process Review. A review of existing quality Processes in an organization that determines whether the existing quality processes are being followed and achieving the desired results, all necessary procedures and actions are being undertaken, and information is being recorded. Process Review is usually conducted by Project Office or Internal Audit who are independent from the project team. Moreover, it is appropriate to have processes reviewed for quality once the project is initially established. This may be useful to give the project sponsor and client a level of confidence in the team.

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A QA member can carry out the quality review process with a method that cut complex work, product, service, and/or process condition apart characteristically with the following steps:

1. Identify the subject(s) of work, product, service, and/or process condition. The subject serves to tell us what function(s) to review.
2. Identify the end (effect) of the work, product, service, and/or process condition. The end serves to tell us what to be accomplished.
3. Identify the necessary means (causes) of the work, product, service, and/or process condition. The necessary means server to tell us how many ways of acting to accomplish the end cited in the second step.
4. Develop the conclusion (improve work, product, service, and/or process condition). The conclusion serves to tell us that the function(s) cited in the first step is carried out the way mentioned in third step to achieve the end cited in the second step. If appropriate, identify the unexpressed end or necessary means to justify the conclusion.

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“Quality review is a framework for thought.” This is how I would like to start this piece. It raises and suggests solution to shortcomings to arrive a well-justified conclusion about a given work, product, service, and/or process condition. It is a process that examines work, product, service, and/or process standards and specifications against their intended purpose. Typically what need to be reviewed are the work, product, service, and/or process deliverable.

By any large, the task in reviewing work, product, service, and/or process deliverable cannot be taken for granted. It must be systematic and specific to achieve the validity of the quality results, but the shortcomings to arrive a well-justified conclusion about work, product, service, and/or process condition could fail (satisfy not) the standards and specifications. The premise is that, the lack of understanding on a certain form about work, product, service, and/or process condition affecting or influencing the project team decision-making due to ignorance. The lack of understanding due to ignorance could explain why one behavior behaves disorderly.

Moreover, the question, how can we ensure the validity of the quality results, however, remain unanswered. Thus, the intention of combating these shortcomings is the key factors why this piece is made into existence.

Further, a good knowledge on quality review process could help a person ensure the validity of the quality results. By adopting quality review process for achieving the validity of quality results, one may assume that the validity of his/her quality results will lead him/her to improve his/her performance.

A further, quality review process is sequential (one at a time) in nature. The essentials of quality review process are described as follows:

Initially, the QA member must have a certain form to follow if he needs to assess a work, product, service, and/or process condition. This includes:

1. Identifying what type of reviews you will use. This includes keeping in mind the purpose of reviews when you are deciding on what to use.
2. Identifying who will responsible for the reviews.
3. Describing any quality review checklists that will be used.

Then, the QA member must verify (confirm) the justifiable of the work, product, service, and/or process condition based on his knowledge and/or understanding of this form to validate (execution) the work, product, service, and/or process condition and achieve the quality results. Otherwise, the QA member must evaluate (comparison) the work, product, service, and/or process condition with this form.

In the evaluation, if the evaluation is stronger, that is, their comparison has a greater number of significant points in common, the QA member is suggested to validate the work, product, service, and/or process condition and achieve the quality results. Otherwise, when their comparison has a greater number of significant points of difference, the QA member is suggested to log the work, product, service, and/or process condition as an issue for clarifications.

The diagrammatic representation of the quality review process below shows the general assessment flow between components.

The sample arithmetic condition below is presented to understand more how this quality review process operates:

A.) 23 + 18 = 41
B.) 23 + 18 = 341011

Here we see a single test case (23+18) with two quite different answers. They are the results of two different processes with two different forms. In the left-hand example, we are justified in believing that the test case A is correct because our understanding confirms that it follows the real pattern that the addition process must follow (adding vertical rows, carrying the extra digits). Thus, when we validate it, we get correct results - the answer is 41. In the right-hand example, we are not justified in believing that the test case B is correct because our understanding confirms that it led to the incorrect process, that is, the sum is put down in order from right to left - the result is 341011. As a result, we evaluate test case B with test case A (or other test case) and find that they are not similar in forms and processes. Thus, the test case B’s form and/or process is an issue for clarifications.

The idea of the method with the quality review process can benefit us to speed up, achieve, and bring gains the desirable outcome.

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Quality program is an operational activities that refer to the existing quality materials, procedures, tools, training, organization, and metrics that can be defined and used within an organization in achieving best practices characteristically with the following components:

1. Quality Materials - An artifacts used within an organization that detail how a particular aspect of the project must be undertaken to assist a QA team apply and improve quality in the project. Usually they are gathered and established in the framework of the quality initiative and lead to QA team activities improvement, such as:

• Adherence to relevant design, programming, documentation, security, and naming standards - there can be no deviation from Standards unless a formal variation process is undertaken, and approval granted;
• policies;
• templates;
• checklists;
• criteria; and
• guidelines.

Note it is also useful to have some representation from the receivers of these quality materials in order to ensure the QA team are not using jargon that makes it clear to the producers, but unclear to the receivers. This includes consulting any applicable client quality standards, templates, checklists, criteria, and guidelines; and incorporating them into the definition of quality materials.

2. Procedures - An outlined quality and/or design Control activities undertaken to help review and achieve quality of the project. Describe and establish how the project team will build these quality procedures into works, products, services, and processes. Use of best practice methods, techniques, and/or know-how steps for development, such as:

• document Control to control Project Documents at each Project Phase;
• define conditions and availability of required documentation;
• defining quality standards for the deliverables;
• design Waivers of requirements;
• configuration change control;
• change or problem reporting;
• define responsibilities;
• corrective actions;
• Quality Records;
• design changes;
• Nonconformance;
• risk management;
• Quality review;
• design review;
• sign-off; and
• others.

3. Training - The following activities may be necessary:

• Identifying skill needs;
• Specifying and designing any training requirements and strategies for the project team;
• Developing or identifying course materials;
• Integrating skill development, quality concepts, and motivational training; and
• Recording training needs as notes for training plan.

4. Tools - Support tools, such as:

• performance modeling;
• project planning;
• tracking; and
• others.

5. Organization - Clearly describe and assign the quality roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders for executing each element of the quality process, such as: Responsibility for gathering; and interpreting and reporting on measurements of effectiveness.

6. Metrics - Statistics or any status assessment in the project definition that demonstrate measurements and indicators of evidence are captured and established during the various activities undertaken as part of “Quality Assurance” to measure the progress and effectiveness of quality improvement activities. This includes identifying areas where quality improvements can be made. It is used to establish the baseline.

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The following are some general quality process guidelines:

1. Ensure that the quality process reflects the project sponsor and client’s requirements. The project sponsor and client may mandate that you adopt certain standards and tools. If you do not find them sufficient to achieve the level of quality defined for the project, augment the standards and tools necessary. You may tell your project sponsor and/or client that the resources are not sufficient enough to achieve the level of quality you believe necessary for the project. Do some research for defining the supporting details.
2. If you are using subcontractors or vendors, make sure they understand the quality process and are committed to uphold it. Include reviews of their works. products, services, and/or processes. If the client requires you to certify that subcontractor processes meet certain requirements then record such requirements, and the corresponding reviews in the quality process.
3. Make sure that all team members understand the quality process and know that you expect them to participate in and support it.
4. If the quality process is extensive or complex, you may need to run training programs.
5. Make sure team members understand how their work contributes to achieving the quality process and commit to providing them with feedback about their performance in this area.

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Poor quality statement can affect one’s behavior to provide project sponsor and client with easy access to quality requirements, solve problems that need to be solved, justify poor quality action and alignment, justify wasted time, and focus on things. Without any clear understanding and idea of what the quality statement are, that one can go in search of things that are broken and his/her goal becomes fixing them. The following are sample activities that one could take to identify and define clearly the desirable quality goals or targets with the project sponsor, client, and team members on a project:

1. Obtaining resources. This includes reviewing project sponsor and client general requirements and supporting documents.
2. Understand the quality needs and/or expectations of the project sponsor and client and input of team members in terms of quality on the project.
3. Determine the desirable quality goals and targets that are consistent with the needs and expectations of the project sponsor and client and input of team members. This includes identifying all the deliverables to be produced, deciding how to best validate their quality, and setting quality criteria and defining quality standards for the deliverables.
4. Define quality statement in ways meaningful to project sponsor, client, and team members.
5. Make sure that quality statement is reviewed and accepted by the project sponsor and client. This includes gaining project sponsor and client agreement with quality statement and re-confirming quality statement with client when changes are approved.

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Poor quality plan can limit quality statement, process, and/or criteria’s success and could even cause the quality statement, process, and/or criteria to fail. By not fixing the problem, one could find further concerns down the line of the quality operation, such as:

• poor procedures to maximize quality control potentials;
• poor project understanding and project team rejection to ideas due to deficient documentation;
• increase of overhead in undertaking quality checks; and
• problems take longer to fix.

Interestingly, some organization don’t want to produce a quality plan due to their belief that developing a quality plan is too complicated and the jargon of quality plan in relation to compliance with quality standards, policies, templates, checklists, criteria, guidelines, metrics, and a range of acronyms are too overwhelming and could leave them confused. This supports the problem and block them to solve their issues and/or concerns.

Viewing the above situations, one needs to find solution and ensure that the desired quality is achieved and that project outputs are fit for purpose; and meet all quality standards, policies, checklists, criteria, guidelines, and metrics in a straightforward and objective way.

The following are sample activities that one could take on to achieve desired quality:

1. Use a quality plan template to describe, structure, develop, organize, and finalize the quality plan with the project team. This includes:

a.) Get the project team ready with the undertaking by communicating the quality process and general requirements and supporting documents for establishing and mutual understanding on project facts. This includes collaborating with the project team for agreement, ideas development, information development, mutual understanding, utilization, and decision making; identifying the quality control tasks of project team needed to control quality; listing the quality assurance activities required to assure quality; and obtaining the project team with tools, training, techniques, and assistance.

b.) Identify and define clearly the desirable quality goals or targets with the project sponsor, client, and team members on a project.

c.) Perform analysis development. This includes thinking about what needs to be done and what could go wrong.

2. Create a cohesive dialog by bring project sponsor and client to a quality review. It could make them more comfortable if they see that quality is being addressed during the start of the project.

3. Expose project sponsor and client to the complexities and potential quality problems and/or issues that usually exist in a project for awareness. This includes ensuring them that you have a mechanism in place to fix the quality problems and/or issues.

4. Execute the quality plan. This includes preparing plan and actions to counter any weaknesses or deficiencies in the quality plan execution.

5. Develop follow up process to allocate fixes to particular people and ensure they actually make the changes. This implies that time must be built into the schedule for rework following review and verification processes.

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Poor quality management can stand in the way of project success. It’s a quality problem that challenges us to change quality assurance and software testing (QAST) practices. Some of the common signs that show up due to quality problems - tend to show up late in the project - are as follows:

• Task rework;
• Lack of project direction;
• Lack of project documentation;
• Higher maintenance and support costs;
• work, Product, service, and/or process return and replacement;
• Missed deadlines and budget;
• Client dissatisfaction;
• Failure mode analysis;
• Complaint resolution;
• Help line support;
• Defect Correction;
• Poor morale;
• Scrap; and
• Etc.

I believe the quality problems have to be solved and the quality management needs to overcome the challenges above. However, some of the things (evidences of existence or limitation) that support the challenges above and keep them going (hinder or blocking you to solve the above challenges) are as follows:

• Act of the will;
• Degree of motivations;
• Commitment, knowledge, and expertise to the QAST practice;
• scope of work and/or improvement (change) desired;
• Adaption to enterprise cultural values, ethics, and abilities to do best and implement the QAST practice effectively;
• Purposeful stability of management;
• Resources; and
• How they respond to the QAST practice chosen.

To avoid the quality problems above, a quality manager must require continual attention to the following activities:

1. Define clearly the desirable quality goals and targets with the project sponsor and client on a project.

a.) Identify and understand the quality needs and/or expectations of the project sponsor and client in terms of quality on the project.
b.) Develop a quality statement as part of the quality plan.

2. Establish a quality process.

Determine, design, define, Develop, organize, manage, implement, and maintain quality control, assurance and improvement mechanisms (quality means for the project), such as: standards like criteria for completeness and correctness, policies, planning, procedures, quality assurance and control processes, reviews, trainings, and tools. These mechanisms will be used on the project to help meet or exceed those quality needs and/or expectations.

3. Measure the effectiveness of the quality process.

a.) Establish performance measures that track achievement of the quality goals. This includes driving team members to perform their job and produce good results.
b.) Track and/or monitor quality goals and the performance measures by identifying the indicators that will tell you whether the required results are being attained.
c.) Analyze the results to determine and prioritize systematic activities for quality. This includes identifying risks and/or problems so steps can be taken in the future to avoid the same concerns.
d.) Share results with the appropriate stakeholders.

4. Monitor the quality process.

Periodically audit the quality process to ensure it is being followed.

5. Change the quality process as needed to keep it effective.

If it is not achieving the results you need, improve it by adjusting processes and/or adopting improved practices to maintain the desired level of quality.

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