Tag: process

  • Starting Quality Assurance – Part 8

    Starting Quality Assurance – Part 8

    Next Steps

    Once you have a self-perpetuating group addressing Quality Ideas, what do you do?
     

    You are not finished! There are always groups and areas that have not been considered yet and if you have really run out of new areas then go back to some of the earlier ones and consider them with a fresh mind. There will be more things that can be improved!

    Talking to people in other companies can often provide a fresh perspective. Go to conferences or check items that are online. It is not always something directly relevant that sparks an idea. Sometimes I look at how someone has addressed an issue using technology and use the ideas in the technology to solve my process problem. I may have no immediate need for the technology itself but the idea can work wonders. There is always a fresh idea! It is also recommended that you publish your solutions and invite comment to see if other people have different ideas or thoughts on solving them.

     

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  • Starting Quality Assurance – Part 7

    Starting Quality Assurance – Part 7

    Out of ideas

    What happens if you are out of ideas of what or how to improve?

     

    Not surprisingly this has been considered by some of the pioneers of Quality Assurance.  They understood that there was a limit to the number of ideas that one person or a group could generate.  Even though it was possible to identify the problems, solutions might not be obvious.  After all, if there was an obvious solution, it would have been implemented already.

    The recommendation was to change the composition of the group coming up with the solutions while retaining a minimum of continuity.  One recommendation was for everyone but the idea recorder to change.  The thought was that the idea recorder would know what had been considered (retaining the history) but might not have a vested interested in either supporting or denigrating any of the existing or new ideas.    The change needs to be done before the group becomes entrenched and before it loses momentum.

    There is nothing to prevent people coming back in a few years with new solutions to new problems (or suggesting them to the new group once they have been outside for a while).  Experience always helps.

     

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  • Starting Quality Assurance – Part 6

    Starting Quality Assurance – Part 6

    Have we been successful?

    Last time we gathered some statistics based on the new process once it had settled down. Now we need to compare the new results with the baseline from before the changes were made. If the results have improved, then we keep the change we made. If things have not improved then we need to back out the change and measure again.

    Once we have everything either at the same level as the baseline or improved, then we can embark on the next round of improvements using the same process.

    Two things that can cause problems:
    1. Sometimes the changes are interrelated. This will require research and a method of disentangling the impacts of the changes. Otherwise we may end up undoing the wrong change and find ourselves bouncing back and forth with no long term improvement.
    2. We have to watch for noise in the system or special items that cause the measurements to be inconsistent. No two measurements will be identical and there will be some variation at some level. This has to be ignored or the measurements taken over a long enough time period to even out any variations due to noise in the system. The other item that has to be watched is some special item like a large project or a freeze on development that will cause either the baseline or the new measurements to be inaccurate. Either an adjustment will have to be made or the measurements excluded from the calculation.

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  • Starting Quality Assurance – Part 5

    Starting Quality Assurance – Part 5

    Last time we gathered some baseline statistics.  These need to be recorded and retained somewhere.  Now we want to make some changes.  We may want to pause the measurements while we make the changes since they will not be accurate.

    Based on some of the statistics we gathered last time.

    1. Is the process taking too long? Look for parts of the process that are delayed (waiting for inputs or resources) or repeated and resolve the issue.
    2. Is the process being repeated with the same inputs because of failures? Complete a root cause analysis of why the inputs are wrong and fix the upstream process.
    3. Is there a long delay in the middle while external resources are assembled or contacted? Determine if better coordination with external departments would help or consider training internal resources to do the task.
    4. Are computer resources maxing out during the process? Enlist an expert in performance to determine the exact cause of the resources maxing out.  Which tasks are taking all the resources?  Do we need more CPU/Memory or do we need to fix something in the program that may be searching too many records(for example).

    Once the changes above have been implemented and have had a chance to take effect, re-enable the statistics gathering with the same set of measurements being recorded.

    Next blog: Have we been successful?

    Test Leader or Manager with concerns? Consider the Test Managers Conference.
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  • Still time to Enrol for Fall 2017

    Enrolment for Fall 2017 courses on the following topics is still open:

    1. Test Leadership
    2. Manager’s Test Planning
    3. Effective Software Testing
    4. Boot Camp for Testers
    5. CSTE Certification Training
    6. CSQA Certification Training
    7. CAST Certification Training
    8. Other courses on request

    Courses are continuing from September to November of 2017.

    Take your opportunity to get training created by experts in the field. Make 2018 your best Quality Assurance year by being prepared and ready for whatever might come your way in terms of Software Testing or Quality Assurance. Waiting to next year puts you behind when a problem does occur.

    Quality Assurance is not just a solution to a technical software problem. It is a consideration for the entire business. Software Quality Assurance failures impact the entire business and can lead to large problems if not addressed.

    Training testers using NVP supplied courses provides testers with the techniques, tools, and knowledge to select the best method for testing – not the one that has been used for the last 15 years that’s falling short!

    When you work with an experienced software testing trainer you benefit by:

    • Creating more valuable employees that pays back more than investments
      in any test tool!
    • Getting real value from testing
    • Enhancing speed, accuracy and results from your testing processes
    • Seeing larger profits

    Quality assurance training is a great way to help ensure your systems are working for you while supporting and contributing to the growth of your company.

    Let us know if we can help!

  • Quality Management – A How To

     Quality Management – A How To

    Three weeks ago we asked Quality Management – Why Bother?  This week we want to look at How Quality Management is tackled. (more…)

  • Quality Assurance Process Improvement – Part 4

    Quality Assurance Process Improvement is the current topic for our NVP Blog. We completed a series of 4 blogs on Assessments because at the end of the Assessment process a lot of organizations won’t act on the Assessment results if they don’t have a plan for moving forward. This is particularly true if the Assessment has not been tailored to the particular company in question. A standard Assessment process generates standard recommendations which may not be applicable. Make sure you detail your expectations at the beginning of the Assessment so you get value from the process and your expenditure of time.

    Last blog focused on How to do Process Improvement and now we’ll address “Dealing with the results”.  Many people complete a process improvement assessment; discover a number of problems that need to be fixed but then drop the process without full solving the issues or taking advantage of all of the work that went into getting the results. This typically happens because of the following:

    • The work that needs to be done isn’t scalable or fun.
    • There’s no one to do the work.
    • There’s no budget for the implementation.
    • What was discovered is so unexpected that no one knows how to tackle it.

    These can all be addressed by the ‘divide and conquer’ methodology.

    Once the results of the assessment are known, they need to be organized into logical buckets. Each bucket is then assigned a set of tasks. Some people will tell you that we need to identify the synergies so that everything gets accomplished efficiently with minimal disruption. While that would be the optimal way of doing things; it is rare for anyone to be able to identify all the synergies simply by looking at the list of results of an assessment. We have to accept some redundancy and the fact that some items are going to have to be reversed when new ones are put in place.

    Now is the time to implement your results.

    Next Week: Scope of Testing

  • Quality Assurance Supports Process Improvement

    Quality Assurance Supports Process Improvement by showing us when the improvement has occurred. This is typically done through measuring the existing process; making the change and then measuring the results of the new process. In last week’s blog we discussed examples of Process Improvement. Now we need to ensure that the Improvement has actually occurred.

    The initial steps to tracking improvement are as follows:

    • Identify the process we want to improve
    • Identify the aspect of that process that needs to be improved
    • Identify a characteristic that will show if the improvement has taken place after the change
    • Find or create a measurement that will show change occurring in the characteristic
    • Measure the characteristic under the current process for a sufficient length of time to get a valid result
    • Make the change
    • Measure the characteristic under the new process for a sufficient length of time to get a valid result

    The above steps are not necessarily easy and will depend on what already exists in the place you are working. In order to do the first three steps you need to have processes in place or be able to identify them and their characteristics. The fourth step requires working out a measurement that validly checks the aspect that is planned for improvement. We then need to wait for while the measurement is taken with the current process. The change has to be implemented and used in the process without any modifications in order to allow us to make valid measurements of the impact of the change.

    Once all this is done, then we are in a position to measure the difference and decide on whether the process was actually improved. Quality assurance supports all of this by defining the necessary measurements, gathering the statistics and analyzing the results. NVP Software Solutions can complete all of the above steps for you.