Software Success Improvement
Paul Gerrard
Gerrard Consulting
1 Old Forge Close
Maidenhead
Berkshire
SL6 2RD UK
e: paul@gerrardconsulting.com
w: http://gerrardconsulting.com
t: 01628 639173
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Assurance with Intelligence
Why is Process the Focus of
Improvement?
(Test Process Improvement is a
Waste of Time!)
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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
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Assurance with Intelligence
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
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Assurance with Intelligence
The delusion of process models
(e.g. CMM)

Google search
- “CMM” – 12,100,000
- “CMM Training” – 12,200
- “CMM improves quality” – 4

A Gerrard Consulting client…
- CMM level 3 and proud of it (chaotic, hero culture)
- Hired us to assess their overall s/w process and make
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recommendations (quality, time to deliver is slipping)
40+ recommendations, only 7 adopted – they couldn’t
change
How on earth did they get through the CMM 3 audit?
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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
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Process quotes
“I believe that a process consultant looking at nonprocess 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”
Using process change to fix cultural or
PG
organisational problems is not going to
work
Improving test in isolation is not going to
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work either
Software Success Improvement
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Eight stage change process (Kotter)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Establish a sense of urgency
Create a guiding coalition
Develop a vision and strategy
Communicate the change vision
Empower broad-based action
Generate short term wins
Consolidate gains, produce more change
Anchor new approaches in the culture.
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Assurance with Intelligence
Eight stage change process (after
Kotter)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Mission
Coalition
Vision
Communication
Action
Wins
Consolidation
Anchoring
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Changes identified
here
This is where your ‘test
model’ comes into play
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Section 3 – Example Findings (rapidly
growing software house)
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
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Some Perceptions
Product Quality
Customer Management
Organisation and Methodology
Planning and Scheduling
Product and Release Management
Development
Developer Testing
System Testing
Support
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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.
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Section 4 - Recommendations
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
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Company Management
Organisation and Planning
Methodology
Product Management - Requirements
Product Management – Project/Work Package
Management
Releases/Installations/Customer Support
Development - Design
Development – Better Practices
Development – Product Development, Refactoring
Development – Testing
Training
System Testing
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We recommend changes based on
findings, not idealised models


We do ‘whole-process’ assessments
So, the recommendations aren’t just testingrelated:
-

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.
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Assurance with Intelligence
Section 5 - Implementation
5.1
Explanation
5.2
Organisation and Management
5.3
Product Strategy
5.4
Customer Support/Product
Improvement/Implementation
5.5
Project/Change/Release Management
5.6
Development Methodology
5.7
Test Strategy
5.8
Development Test Methodology
5.9
Design Process
5.10 Development Process
5.11 Training
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Assurance with Intelligence
Sample recommendations (3 of
73)
1.Organisation and Management
1.Recommendations: 4 6 8 9 10
Cost
ID
Recommendation
4
Conduct a post implementation review of major
releases. Periodically review the costs of bug fixing
and enhancements Work Packages. Learn lessons.
Make changes.
6
Identify key resources who are “bottlenecks”,
“irreplaceable” or have conflicting roles (e.g. team
leadership and team membership). Require these staff
to mentor/coach a colleague(s) (who may have to be
hired) to reduce the risk of over dependency/burnout
etc.
8
Define specific roles, objectives, responsibilities for
PS, product management, development,
documentation, testing, support in the context of
software product development, maintenance and
support.
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Constraint
s
Quick
Change
Quality
Time
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
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- To refine the vision
to be something
Software Success Improvement
Thank-You
www.gerrardconsulting.com
uktmf.com
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