The challenge of quality

James Kelly
The views in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of their employer. 1

What will we cover

How is quality currently used in industry? Foundations of using quality How the pillars work Quality in projects and Business As Usual Practical use of models & methods The most important thing you need to know

How is quality used in industry?

Quality was a craze in late 80s & 90s (TQM, Business Excellence, Quality Circles, BPR) Just dont call it quality - seen as a management fad by most companies Followed by CMM, CMMI, TL9000, TickIT, CoBIT, Six Sigma, Lean, ITIL/ISO20000
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How is quality used in industry?

Terminology

Need common terminology - QC, QA mean different things from company to company, from industry to industry

Needs to be well defined within your company

Benchmarking to other companies in software is rarely useful if your processes differ significantly
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My definitions

Product Quality how useful and effective are our products, installations, software, systems, services this is controlled and assessed by project staff using quality control activities such as testing, inspections, peer reviews. Process Quality how useful and effective are our processes and whether we follow them this is undertaken by QA staff
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My definitions

Quality Control activities to control the quality of products, services and processes Quality Assurance - activities that assure that these processes are effective, efficient and are being applied correctly

Quality Management activities that use data from QC and QA to improve the company.
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My definitions

Quality Management System a.k.a Quality System, Business System, Business Management System, Business Process Management System, Quality Framework The policy, organisational structure, activities, procedures and resources needed to implement quality control, assurance and management
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Product Quality What it means

Which is better quality?

Product Quality What it means

Yet defects are used are the common view of quality Quality Function Deployment ISO9126 OK, what how to specify?

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Foundations of quality
Quality of our products & services Peer Reviews, Testing, Inspection Reviews & Audits Continual Improvement
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Process

Strategy, People, Plans, Training

Metrics

How the pillars work - Process

Despite 30+ years of work as an industry, processes still often informal or not relevant/used Difficulties with process analysis & Enterprise Architecture (and usability of BPMN, UML) Automation often destroys the effectiveness of processes

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How the pillars work - Metrics

Based on company objectives

Measurable

with real figures Not generic motherhood statements

Functional sizing (FP Story Points) SLOCs still used Defects Use of control charts and SPA/SPC

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How the pillars work Deliverable Reviews

Peer Reviews, Walkthroughs, Inspections

often

informal emailed around data is rarely collected

Testing, Product Inspections

V&V

and the differences What is being tested and how?

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How the pillars work - Audits

Different styles (targeted vrs process) External and internal Conformance Effectiveness Efficiency

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How the pillars work Continual Improvement

In-project reviews Lessons learnt Use of data PDCA know but rarely used directly Six sigma

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Practical use of models & methods

ISO9001 predominant model CMMI used by defence, aerospace, telecoms ITIL, ISO20000 IT service oriented 6 Sigma, Lean repeatable, manufacturing CoBIT finance & banking

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Practical use of models & methods

Waterfall Manufacturing environment Incremental & iterative development (Agile) Services Sales

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The most important thing

Quality must be focused solely on outcomes for the business ISO9001 is not an outcome Conformance is not an outcome QC & QA activities must be practical Audits must have a purpose Always focus on what is being done for the business
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The most important thing

Senior sponsorship

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Backup Slides
Recommended Reading:

Out of the crisis Deming Jurans Quality Handbook JM Juran, et al Quality is free, Quality without tears Crosby CMMI Guidelines Chrissis, et al Agile Software Development Cockburn CMMI V1.3 Acquisition, Development, Services

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Backup Slides
Recommended Reading:

Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos - Donald J Wheeler IEEE Software Crosstalk Journal of Defense SE
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