Tag: process

How to start QA with an unwilling company?

Sometimes you run into a situation where a company indicates a wish for QA but will not put in any effort to make it happen. It looks like a large effort to them and they cannot see any reason or benefit. In this case there are several steps that you can take to make this happen. We will discuss these over the next few weeks.

The need for Quality never goes away; it just reappears in a different format each time. The same techniques often apply; it is just a different situation.

If you have something you would like to discuss, please get in touch. Our contact information is below.

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For those who follow the blog, we gave it a rest over the summer. Not only were we busy with some security testing, we also had a several projects go-live at various dates. One more is going live right now. Between one thing and another, the summer seemed to pass more quickly than we expected. However, quality did not take a break and we are looking forward to the last part of the year for several reasons.

1. Some of the rush to get critical items updated has abated.
2. Projects are now running for more extended periods of time which will give more time to get the Quality right
3. We are getting more buy-in from people with respect to the need for Quality. This is a welcome change

The need for Quality never goes away; it just reappears in a different format each time. The same techniques often apply; it is just a different situation.

If you have something you would like to discuss, please get in touch. Our contact information is below.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

Services NVP Quality Assurance Services

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Meeting Book a Meeting with NVP

LinkedIn Group Software Testing and QA Group

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 7

You have done everything that you can think of internally and you have spoken to outside people and used their input to further improve. At this time, it may be necessary to put the initiative on the back burner and wait for issues to pop up. We generally would not suggest this since it is hard enough to get a Quality Initiative going once, let alone, restarting it a second time but if you cannot think of anything further to do, it may be worse to keep pushing on something rather than stop and wait for something obvious to appear.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 6

Let’s suppose that you have identified everything and made all the improvements that you can determine. What happens now? The best idea is to get in touch with other people outside of your organization to see what they have done. They often have completely different ways of looking at things and completely different approaches to problems. While it may not apply directly to your situation there may be something you can take and use for your situation.
People outside your organization will tend to think differently than you do.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 5

In our last post, we talked about changing the group composition and leaving just one person to provide continuity. One thing we did not mention is the need to maintain good records of what has been done and tried, and how successful it was. We do not want to repeat the same mistakes that the last group tried or try for the same changes if they have already been proved not to work. There is no harm in re-visiting what has been done and seeing if there is a different way of improvement.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

Services NVP Quality Assurance Services

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 4

In our last post, we talked about how you might have trouble identifying what to improve next.
There is only so much that a group can consider and they may not know everything that exists in the organization. If no-one in the core group involved in the Quality Assurance improvement initiative can identify anything further to work on, then it is time to change the composition of the group. The recommendation is usually to change all of the group except one person. That gives new viewpoints while maintaining continuity.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 3

In our last post, we talked about how you would encounter resistance from some groups. If you have successfully navigated the issues, then the next problem that may set in is a loss of direction. The initial items to be improved are usually obvious and have been issues for years. However, after that it will take more effort to find things to improve either because they not be obvious or they may have been considered in the past and discarded as unobtainable. It is necessary to go back and revisit old items since the situation may have changed.

One of the key considerations of Quality Assurance is to see how activities interrelate and whether a change in one can have beneficial impacts on many others.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

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Quality Assurance 2022 – Step 2

If you look back at the initial post on this subject from this year, we stated that it was required to ‘sell’ this initiative to other groups. We ended with a comment about the need to anticipate further questions. If you read some of the original books on QA, you will find that they state that QA ‘took on a life of its own’ and became self-sustaining. Most of us do not have that luxury and run into continual push back as the Quality Assurance initiative touches more and more groups. Each group has a different viewpoint and different needs from Quality Assurance. Some of these will be contradictory and some will be in direct opposition to the initiative. All of these will need to be anticipated and answered if we do not want the initiative to stop.

Do not anticipate that because the initiative has been approved once that it is immune from further questions until it is completed.

Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Test Managers Conference.

Services NVP Quality Assurance Services

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Meeting Book a Meeting with NVP

LinkedIn Group Software Testing and QA Group

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay