“Does your Software Testing Pay” is the question we posted six weeks ago. We posted a simple calculation for a ROI and then a few comments that were received as feedback. Those comments were appreciated since they extended the idea past the direct defect costing calculation. Today we want to wrap up this series with some general comments that extend the idea a little farther.
For the most part we have concentrated on the Software Testing aspect of Quality Assurance. Almost everyone we speak with is familiar with this aspect. Most software companies or those who depend on software complete some form of testing and the concept of testing can be generalised to cover a multitude of activities. However, it is not the entire picture.
So, at the risk of making the title slightly inaccurate, what other aspects of Quality Assurance can be considered:
- Process improvement for the entire SDLC.
- Timely intervention at the Root Cause of many of the defects to prevent them from occuring in the first place.
- Concentration on the required end-result to make sure everyone is working towards that end. It is suprising how often this is obscured in large organisations. We attended a course a couple of weeks ago and spoke to the instructor afterwards and apparently many people on the course have only been told a very small piece of what they need to do (and part of that was to attend the course although the reason why was not provided). Not only is that against the concepts of keeping people informed of why they are doing something but it is also very de-motivating.
The above list (particularly number 1) can cover a lot items that are very detailed and can add a lot of value to the Quality Assurance efforts. We may take this up in the fall.