Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management 11-Feb-09 Carol Perletz Agenda 1. Introduction 2. Definitions 3. Software Development Life Cycle Processes 4. The SQA Role 5. SQA Project Management 6. My Case Studies 7. Your QA Project Management Challenges 8. References 2 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Introduction 3 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Introduction • My background 1984 – hired as a part time tester • 1987 – became a “QA Engineer” • 1992 – attended the IBM Quality College; began evangelizing SQA • 1993 – spearheaded the development of the company’s 1st SDLC • 2000 – corporate quality core team member • 1989 – 2009 • Managed test teams • Developed/modified SDLC processes • Established metrics programs, reviews, audits, quality plans, quality • reports • My experience Companies expect QA engineers to cover testing • QA often does not perform quality assurance activities • People who call themselves quality professionals may not have the skills • or background to perform quality functions QA Engineer is equal to test engineer in the U.S. • QA Engineers are not generally found outside the U.S. • 4 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Definitions 5 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Definitions • Quality – doing the right thing in the right way (Dave Miller) • Software quality – software that has a low level of defects when deployed, is reliable, satisfies the majority of users, and is maintainable (Steve Rakitin) • Software quality assurance – assuring that software meets the 4 criteria above (my definition) • IEEE 6.10.12-1990 defined QA as assuring that software conforms to its technical requirements • Testing – the execution of software to find its faults (Watts Humphrey) • Project management – achieving the needed software quality level while simultaneously respecting the project lead-time and cost constraints (Bharath Srinivasan and Devi Sujathaa) 6 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management How do these definitions fit in with today’s software projects? • QA is recent terminology and is used more often when referring to shrink-wrapped or pure software products in the U.S. • Testing and test engineering became an independent discipline in companies producing operating systems in the 1960s and 1970s • Companies headquartered in Europe and many companies in the U.S. who produce low level software and hardware have System Test groups, not QA groups • Companies who hire QA Engineers in the U.S. most often want skilled test engineers • Most companies I have interviewed with, or been employed in, do not understand ASQ quality engineering 7 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Software Development Life Cycle Processes 8 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Software Development Life Cycle Processes • Waterfall – a cascade of phases, each dependent upon the completion of the previous phase Requirements analysis • Requirements definition • Design • Implementation • Testing • Release/maintenance/support • • Modified waterfall Feedback loop back from implementation to design • Feedback loop back from testing to design/implementation • • Concurrent development/test Requirements definition • Design of code and tests • As portions of code are completed, they are tested • Formal regression/validation testing of the entire product • Release/maintenance/support • 9 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management Software Development Life Cycle Processes (con’t) • Rapid prototyping Requirements definition • Rapid design • Prototype building cycles • Customer evaluation of prototypes in each cycle • Implementation • Testing • Release/maintenance/support • • Spiral Requirements definition • Initial prototype • Planning • Risk analysis • Additional prototype cycles • Implementation • Testing • Release/maintenance/support • 10 Nitty Gritty of QA Project Management