Starting Quality Assurance can be difficult when there are existing projects already in progress, new projects starting up and operations running at full speed. There never seems to be a good time to say “We are going to launch into Quality Assurance activities and start improving our processes”. There will always be a more important operation or project related activity that needs to be solved that takes precedence.
So, the second question we want to answer is When. Last week we discussed Why we would want to start Quality Assurance and the next step is to decide When.
The obvious answer is now but that is almost never possible. The next best answer is to set a date and an objective for another date further down for achievement of the goal. Since this is often an extra task, beyond all the tasks that are already occurring to support the normal operations of the organization; it is also critical that it be reasonably small and limited.
The easiest and most common process that organizations start is the recording of defects in a central location using standard Severity and Priority settings.
The subtasks are the following:
- Select a repository to record the defects. This could be an open source free repository downloaded from somewhere; a purchased repository or (as the last choice!) a spreadsheet.
- Set a goal for a project or a date for defects to have been recorded.
- Determine some appropriate Severities that area applicable to your business. If you can’t think of any; either look online or contact us and we will provide some standard settings.
- Determine some appropriate Priorities that area applicable to your business. If you can’t think of any; either look online or contact us and we will provide some standard settings.
- Pick a (small) project and start recording. Even if the project is part way through, starting at the midpoint is better than not starting at all.
- Evaluate your progress towards your goal at the set date.
Next Week: How
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