NVP Software Solutions

Tag: Communication

  • A few good crises

    Last week we mentioned how October used to be Quality Month and now has also been designated as CyberSecurity Awareness month. But the question that arises is how to get Quality accepted in your organization. One client once said that a “A few good crises” would aid Quality Assurance in being accepted. A very true statement and as an external consultant, that was true. However, the people inside the organization were not quite so thrilled with that thought. Clearly crises, were not a good reflection on their management since they should be helping avoid them.

    Our suggestion is to redo the statement as: A few good crises averted and see where you get with that. Start a log of what was averted by your work. Add it to the issue reports as a separate field. Clearly this is bundled in with Risk Management and needs to be attached to the Risk of something occurring. Something that was very low risk is not really a candidate for an averted crisis. However, something that is High Risk and was successfully avoided is a much better candidate for the list. Concentrate on those.

    What are you doing to avert crises?

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  • Why October?

    October was Quality Month at one time although we have not heard a lot about that designation recently. It is now also CyberSecurity month.

    We have to ask “Why October?”

    But ignoring the Why for a little bit, it does seem that October is considered to be a month when we are all supposed to look at the way Quality impacts our lives and take a second look at how we have been operating and see if it can be improved.

    Possibly the originators thought that October would give enough time for any improvements to be included into the following year’s budget and plans. However, with so many organizations having different year ends, that thought may no longer apply. Regardless, Quality considerations should not really be restricted to a single month. Continuous improvement is not continuous in name only. It has to occur all year around.

    What are you doing about Quality Month?

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  • Quality Assurance Article

    Following up to our presentation to PMC on September 1, a short article has been posted elaborating on some of the concepts from the talk. Please see the article at PMAC- Article

    Quality Assurance and You

    Using software as an example, in many more locations, we are dependent on it for our safety and well being. Couple that with the pressure for faster delivery and there is not sufficient time to do thorough testing at the end of development. Quality Assurance finds and utilizes the best places to do validation and verification and ensure a good product while reducing the testing cycle. Projects are delivered, faster, cheaper and with better quality.

    Takeaways:

    Three ingredients to delivering Quality.
    The Costs and Risks of Poor Quality.
    Six Steps to implementing a Quality Program
    Sign up today, this event will sell out!

    See the Article for more information or contact us at neil@nvp.ca

  • Quality Assurance Presentation

    If, as a project manager, you are called upon to implement a new process, software or WHATEVER, quality assurance is something you need to watch.
    On September 1, 2021 at 1PM EST, PMAC will be delivering a one time only professional development webinar for members:

    Quality Assurance and You

    Using software as an example, in many more locations, we are dependent on it for our safety and well being. Couple that with the pressure for faster delivery and there is not sufficient time to do thorough testing at the end of development. Quality Assurance finds and utilizes the best places to do validation and verification and ensure a good product while reducing the testing cycle. Projects are delivered, faster, cheaper and with better quality.

    Takeaways:

    Three ingredients to delivering Quality.
    The Costs and Risks of Poor Quality.
    Six Steps to implementing a Quality Program
    Sign up today, this event will sell out!

    https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcode6tpjktHtzrZPnQJLgRXEosgWwv3jTz

  • A Better Way – Case Study 5 – Distributed with Poor Testing

    A Better Way – Case Study 5 – Distributed with Poor Testing

    In our last several blogs we have discussed ‘A Better Way to Test”.

    The issue is to apply this to actual situations. We have 5 Case Studies we plan to use over the next several weeks to address this. The fifth case study might be called “Distributed with Poor Testing”.

    In this case the developers were geographically remote, the Quality Assurance (such as it was) was local and the clients were geographically remote. This was a somewhat unusual situation since it is frequently the Quality Assurance that is remote and the other two local. However, some of the considerations had to be the same. We needed a way of communicating things without losing anything in transit.

    Two solutions came to mind immediately:

    1. Make sure there are stated expectations regarding the flow of information. This applies to any artifact like a test case, a requirement, a defect, or a design document. We did this via some flow charts we placed in the Master Test Plan although there are certainly other places they could have been recorded.
    2. Acquire some tools that will support this information store. There are many free or very cheap cloud-based tools that support these processes.

    Once we had the framework in place, we set up the appropriate loops and feedback mechanisms to ensure information flow and good quality. As time went on we expanded the groups who had access to the systems ensuring that the information flowed in the correct way and with sufficient security to the concerned parties. The two way flow of information allowed us to eliminate a backlog of defects that had accumulated and start addressing customer concerns in a timely manner.

    The investment was not large when compared to the improvements realised.

    If you want to discuss this further contact us.

  • Selecting Software to run your business – 3

    Implementation is by far the most interesting and challenging part of Selecting Software to run your business. This is where the details become major problems and resistance to change can derail the entire project.

    It is crucial to do the following:

    1. Get everyone on side.
    2. Get a champion (or champions).
    3. Anticipate the issues.
    4. Address the issues (before they become problems).
    5. Start small (if possible).
    6. Demonstrate successes.
    7. Roll out to the entire company

    Many solution packages look simple on the outside but turn out to be complex to implement and maintain. Others have hidden depths you will never use while others will disappoint you. The selection process is crucial to anticipate some of these issues and make provisions to address them.

    No matter what package is selected or what deployment process is used; at some point the implementation must go ahead or else it will never occur.

    A study from some years ago provided the following figures for software that was purchased to be implemented:

    1. Software Delivered but never successfully used – 47% of the total.
    2. Software paid for but not delivered – 29% of the total.
    3. Software used but extensively reworked or later abandoned – 19% of the total.
    4. Software that could be used after changes – 3% of the total.
    5. Software that could be used as delivered – 2% of the total.

    Implementations have to fall into that 2% to be fully succesful and within the 5% to be partially sucessful. These are not high odds and to be successful requires a correct deployment process throughout the organisation.

    If you have concerns about any of the three stages (Stage 1 and Stage 2 were described in earlier blogs) of acquiring and implementing software – call us at 1-800-811-4718 or contact us.

    We are here to help.

  • Communication in Testing and QA – Message, Audience, Transmission Method

    With all of the ‘communicating’ we do in today’s world, Communication in Testing and QA may seem like a redundant addition. The methods of communication available are endless, to the point, where the pendulum might start to swing the other way, towards a world that reduces the amount of communication we have in our lives. However, when it comes to software testing, quality assurance and quality control strong COMMUNICATION is the number one skill looked for in for software testers.

    We have already discussed WHY, HOW and WHAT to communicate in other blogs within this series and the final components to tackle are Message, Audience and Transmission. When sharing information and data, it is essential that you consider your specific message, who the intended audience is and the way in which you wish to transmit that information based on the previous criteria. Those who carefully consider and plan these components of communication get their views and insights heard and acted upon much more constructively than their counterparts who do not consider these three things.

    Start by thinking about the message you are trying to send? Is it advice, a warning, a compliment or technical information that increases the efficiency and success of your department? Whatever the message, clarify it and exactly what you are intending to convey. If you can do this in a few short sentences, you’re off to a good start. Your message should be short, concise and to the point. If there’s no point, there’s no point in wasting your time or the time of your audience.

    Speaking of audience, who exactly is your audience? You need to figure that out, because your audience may be the most critical piece to consider. Who are you trying to reach and under what conditions? There are many recipients for every message and specific knowledge of who those recipients and how they react is a determining factor in how successful your message will actually be.  People speak differently to their boss then they do to a peer, subordinate or close work-friend. You speak differently to your neighbour than you would to your spouse, children or relatives. Fully understanding your audience allows to you craft the content of your message in a way in which you think they would best receive the information being shared.

    When you have identified the message you are trying to send and the audience in which you are sending to, you can determine exactly how your piece of communication should be transmitted. How is it best to attract the attention of the intended Audience and get the Message we want across. We covered a number of these in an earlier blog.

    We also need to keep Marshall McLuhan in mind when considering this. ‘The medium is the message.‘

    Next Blog Series: Testing Centre of Excellence

  • Communication in Testing and QA – How to Communicate

    Communication in Testing and QA may seem pointless in today’s over-communicated world. We can use so many methods of communication that the point may seem more like how to stop sending or receiving so much information rather than the reverse. That is missing the point of this particular topic. Communication is listed as the number one skill required in testers.

    The second question in our series is how to communicate. Again, this may seem like an unimportant question when there are so many methods of communication. Actually it is more important than ever. With so many methods of communication how do we make sure our message stands out to the final recipient. Clearly marketers spend a lot of their time thinking about this question and experimenting with various methods to get the attention of their target audience. Equally obviously, some Quality Assurance or Quality Control communication is mandated by the tool that exists in the organisation or the process that has been determined. For example, defects (or whatever they are called in your organisation) are often put into a tool and communicated via a workflow. There is ‘little scope for the imagination‘ in that process. However, for every other piece of communication the question of How it is communicated is critical.

    For example:

    1. We want to convince a large group of people to follow a certain path and also solicit their feedback – personal presentations to small groups may be the most effective even if it is time consuming
    2. We want to demonstrate the superiority of one methodology over another – graphs and charts may be the most effective even though we may think the answer is obvious
    3. We want to tell everyone some good news – a newsletter or announcement via electronic communication may be best even if we want to tell people in person

    We have only really scratched the surface of types and possibilities here. There are thousands more.

    Final Blog of the Series: Communication in Testing – Message; Audience; and Transmission Method

    Next Blog Series: Testing Centre of Excellence