Slide 1 Improve Testing, Improve Software Paul Gerrard Gerrard Consulting 1 Old Forge Close Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 2RD UK e: [email protected].

Slide 1

Improve Testing, Improve Software

Paul GerrardGerrard Consulting1 Old Forge CloseMaidenheadBerkshireSL6 2RD UK

e: [email protected]: http://gerrardconsulting.comt: 01628 639173

How to improve… I want to improve my (insert any activity

here) _______ people improvement _______ organisation improvement _______ process improvement

Changing people (like me) and organisation (like my company) is so hard – let’s not even think about it

The delusion of ‘best practice’ There are no “practice” Olympics to

determine the best There is no consensus about which

practices are best, unless consensus means “people I respect also say they like it”

There are practices that are more likely to be considered good and useful than others, within a certain community and assuming a certain context

Good practice is not a matter of popularity. It’s a matter of skill and context.

Derived from “No Best Practices”, James Bach, www.satisfice.com

The delusion of quality management(a la ISO 9001)

Google search for- “ISO 9001” – 14,500,000- “ISO 9001 Training” – 13,100- “ISO 9001improves quality” – 1

ISO 9001 in a nutshell- “Document what you do”- “Do what you document”- “Do what you like”

ISO 9001 accreditation without reference to the garbage that is produced by the documented processes.

The delusion of process models(e.g. CMM) Google search

- “CMM” – 7,260,000- “CMM Training” – 14,300- “CMM improves quality” – “1-6 of about 7”

Typical CMM user…- CMM level 3 and proud of it- Overall s/w quality, time to deliver is slipping- Changes to be made are obvious- But few can be adopted – they can’t change

because they’ll lose their CMM status- What’s going on here?

People need process? A big problem with process is it becomes all

encompassing Process folk sell process and cast all things in

terms of it, forgetting that people who are smart, succeed in spite of process, not because of it

It could be argued, that less smart people need process- (By less smart, we're talking about people who need so

much structure and enforced discipline they can only operate in the military, or in prison probably)

Is our industry really staffed by such people? Do we really want production-line workers?

Physics quotes…“I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy”

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with

experiment, it's wrong”

Richard P. Feynman

Process quotes“I believe that a process consultant looking at non-process problems is just as dumb as the next guy”

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your process model is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with reality, it's wrong”

me

Section 3 – Example Findings (rapidly growing software house)3.1 Some Perceptions3.2 Product Quality3.3 Customer Management3.4 Organisation and Methodology3.5 Planning and Scheduling3.6 Product and Release Management3.7 Development3.8 Developer Testing3.9 System Testing3.10 Support

Perceptions (3 of 15)1. “No one can test”. There is a perception that no-one in the

company is testing well enough to stabilise and improve the quality of the product. The support/test team are split between support and testing and support always takes priority. The team aren’t ‘career testers’ or focused on criticising and ‘breaking’ the product and haven’t had any formal testing training. Developers do not perform thorough unit testing. Requirements are not reviewed.

2. “No one is responsible for quality”. Although one could say everyone is responsible for quality, no one owns it because all groups are under pressure to compromise and see no way of resisting that pressure. No one owns quality because they don’t have authority to say no.

3. There has been a reluctance to implement a more structured process because of past experience. When a dedicated QA manager was recruited, they found it difficult to implement even basic processes. Probably their approach was to write processes and assume they could implement themselves. This negative experience discouraged attempts to try alternatives so practices are largely unchanged.

Need to adopt changes based on findings, not idealised models ‘Whole-Process’ assessments not just testing Recommendations aren’t just testing-related:

- Could be a change in requirements/development/CM…

- Could be a change in attitude, leadership, policy- Could be a change in organisation- Could be a change in emphasis- Could be an agile approach- Could be a novel approach- Could be a change in personnel

None of these changes are promoted by current testing models, but are almost always required.

Summary You have to treat every change project as

unique You need to understand how things are But you also need to understand the

reasons WHY they are You must listen to practitioners and

managers- To hear their ideas for improvement- To align/augment ideas with the known

constraints- To refine the vision to be something achievable.