Increasing the software development quality.
A few years ago, a client contacted us to help him in his process of Testing Globalization. Their goal was to increase their software development quality and, therefore, they wanted to centralize software testing. From implementation onwards, all produced software would be tested in a specific area before being delivered to the final customer. This would guarantee the product’s quality, but the question was, how could the progressive improvement of this quality be measured?
The importance of having good references.
The first problem was the lack of rigorous references, the lack of historical references and the lack of present references.
Faced with this panorama, and within a large and complex organizational context, the first action was focused on the need to define appropriate measures and measure to know their situation at that time. Without this, it would not matter where we wanted to go, as we would never get there.
Once we had established where we were and had a clear idea of where they wanted to go, we established a monitoring mechanism to act on the deviations and even predict them.
The solution materialized in the definition of a Quality Dashboard based on a Metrics Universe and specific Indicators for the client that would allow him to align himself with the established goals, or in other words, after giving him his position in the map and establishing the North, we provided him with a GPS so that he could reach the destination.
Using GPS: Quality Dashboard.
It was necessary to show the quality improvement of the software through objective measures, for this it was necessary to control the Testing Activities that were carried out in the development projects. This testing governance was articulated through a Quality Dashboard structured around the dimensions of Quality, Cost and Time, implementing it through the Software Product and the Software Testing Process itself.
The Roadmap to success except when the unexpected arises..
The first step of the Roadmap was the elaboration of an implementation plan for the defined universe of indicators.
The second step was the materialization of this plan with the implementation of a reduced set of indicators.
The third step of the roadmap was to complete the rest of the measures and indicators when… suddenly, new customer needs and internal organizational changes make the main objective of the initiative to be reconsidered. Now the objective is no longer to achieve a centralized test model and there is a 180-degree change: we want to implement a distributed test model.
What would happen then with the proposed solution? Would it still be valid?
Be water my friend.
The proposed solution remained valid with this new objective. As it is based on a dashboard and a system of software product metrics, its main feature is its flexibility. They are the GPS that takes us where we want, we only have to establish where we want to go.
The success of this flexibility in the solution is determined by:
- The identification and definition of the set of metrics and indicators that allow to manage and govern the Activities for the Quality of the SW.
- Staggered implementation of defined metrics following a prioritization established by business.
- From this set of metrics and indicators and through the selection and adequate representation in function of the different audiences, the status reports and follow-up of the Test Activities are elaborated, which allow taking the appropriate decisions.
The keys to success in your testing globalization.
The lessons learned were many, but the main ones can be summarized in three. There are three lessons that you must learn so that your testing process does not suffer and does not suffer from poor implementation:
- Know where you are and where you want to go.
- Plan carefully how you will go from one point to another.
- Have a GPS that allows you to know when you are on the road and when you got out of it.
About the author
Julián Gómez
Brand Manager
Benchmark | Function Points | IFPUG | Metrics | Quality | Software development estimation | testing process