Ten Ways to Improve Quality Productivity

Having worked in Quality Assurance in many different roles and organizations over the years, I have come to realize that some days, we are the *rock stars* of the organization (or at least we feel like we are) and other days barely get to log a defect.

In thinking this over to try and gain a better understanding of what holds back the rock star days I have come up with a few things I noticed in my own day that apply across the board. Small or large organization, there seems to be some commonality, without further adieu, here they are:

Limit meetings to once a week or less.I know, most of you are shaking your head here. While it is important for QA to be involved from the very beginning on all projects, it is also just as important to have time to work on those projects. Assess what meetings are truly important to your projects and productivity and attend only those. The three hour meetings to discuss button color for the new application is hardly going to increase the productivity of QA. Make sure you ask for an agenda for each meeting you are requested to attend so you can ascertain if this one is for you.

Leave yourself a breadcrumb trail. Be creative and define a method for yourself so that you can determine where you left off should an emergency crop up and cause you to be distracted from testing. Doesn't have to be elaborate, can be as simple as typing a large "X" on the line of the test plan you were working on or some other indication to you personally that will help you to get right back in the game without having to hunt down where you left off.

Have a plan. Take the time to plan out your projects and your working hours and stick to it. It is very easy to get distracted during a busy workday, keep your plan in mind in all you do, in all your interactions and develop personal methods to keep yourself on track.

Work in a lab. Hopefully, your organization has a lab for you to work in, an isolated area where the noise and hustle and bustle of the day to day business activities are outside of earshot and sight. If you don't have one, talk to your manager or team lead and work to build one, it's worth it. This is not to say QA should work in a vacuum, rather, QA needs concentration time that is often impossible to obtain amidst regular business activities.

Kill the IM's. Have the IM on your desktop and not on your lab or testing machines. IM is a fabulous tool to keep me productive in other factors of my work, but when it comes to writing test cases and plans, the less distraction you have from outside influences, the better.

Take a walk. Try taking a short walk in the morning before work starts or some form of exercise, even if it is only twenty minutes. Your body needs that time and exercise, it matters to your overall health and well being. Hard to be productive if you are ill or your body feels neglected.

Take lunch. Most of us get so engrossed with our work, we loose track of time and forget to take even thirty minutes for ourselves to eat and chat with others. Put lunch in your daily plan and take it. Even if it is only thirty minutes, do it and make plans to have lunch with others. Being social and taking some breathing space during the workday is essential for your personal well being and your productivity. Working lunches are great only if you have a light schedule for the day, otherwise, steer clear of them and give yourself a mental and social break. You will be impressed with how positively this impacts your attitude and productivity.

List common distractions. Take a minute or two and think about what distracted you over the past week. Know what the distractions are, write them down. Now make a plan to address those things you feel hampered your productivity. Having a plan to address these things in advance will make you feel more focused and in control of your destiny.

Tear yourself away from email. Again, this is another fabulous tool to increase productivity and by all means, the urgent emails must be addressed. So address those that are critical or urgent and get back to your plan. Leave all the other emails for the end of the day, they can wait until you are done with your testing.

Get out!. Get your team members together and get out at least once a month together where you do not talk about work. being social and building relationships with your team members is a fabulous way to understand one another better. You can talk about work if you must, but be sure to get personal, know who you are working with and maybe make a new friend or two. It doesn't hurt, promise!Hopefully this will help you to have that rock star feeling more often and feel more productive. I have employed these rules to my own day and find I feel much better at the end of the week with a nice list of accomplishments to present to the business. I am not saying any of these are easy, but at least get started and see how much better you feel at the end of the day. Speaking of the end of the day, here is a bonus tip:

BONUS: Take the night off! It is sometimes ever so tempting to work into the evening and at times, you cannot avoid it. Don't make a habit of working overtime if you can avoid it. Your peak hours of productivity are the first six you work each day, anything after that, your effectiveness drops considerably. Consider this and ask yourself if working late is going to accomplish anything more than missing dinner with your family, friends or significant other.

Have a "Rock Star" QA Team with some of these suggestions to get your started.

Getting Started with your Virtual QA Lab

You love the idea of a virtual QA Lab but wonder how to begin. At the beginning, as with any project, with the high level requirements and the business systems design review. Get your ideas in line with the needs of the business.

Define and Prepare

The solution must be designed to provide stable services to the Quality Assurance and Development Departments by implementing network servers and updated software purchased from approved vendors. This will have direct impact on reducing business risk, increasing availability of the applications in line with current projections for the QA and Development Departments and compliance with SoX audit trail requirements. Not worried about SoX? Someone in your organization will be concerned with audits, be is SoX or something else. Having an audit trail protects the business from anything that may occur in the future so plan for it now.

Anyone for Scope?

Gain a complete understanding of what exists today in your world. Do you have any single point of failures? Lack of failover systems? Operating systems that are not part of a security patching schedule and are therefore out of date posing a security risk. Have the needs and volume changed since the original equipment was put in place? What are those? How do you plan to address that?

The Virtual QA lab will aims to resolve all the outdated and growth issues now and in the future by upgrading hardware, implementing adequate security polices and adding support and training. Be sure your plan:

• Specifies clearly the needs and offerings.
• Is clear and focused to avoid misinterpretation.
• Measureble to be quantified and compared to other data.
• Attainable: achievable, reasonable, and credible under conditions expected.
• Realistic: fits into the organization's constraints and is cost effective.
• Timely.

Phase It!

This is not a simple undertaking for an organization that has not walked down this road before. Avoid the overwhelming feeling by phasing your plan. Make it simple and understandable to avoid the "this is too complex" thoughts your customers have in their minds before it hits their lips.

For example, in the initial phase, new hardware may be purchased and installed in an approved data center. New Application software may be installed and configured. Be sure to include assets and how they will be accommodated.

Be absolutely certain to include savings, this is a critical part of this plan. Include those costs associated with exposure due to outdated and aged out hardware, as well as growth both immediate and in the future.

Get Specific

If you have done your homework up to know, you are fully aware of the pains within the QA organization and the organization overall. Address those pains in specific, real terms. What if you are new or trying to do this as an outside vendor with no specifics? Ask questions! Most clients are more than happy to talk about their pain. They need your help, after all, that is why they are talking to you in the first place. Don't miss any opportunities to learn about the pain and pleasure of the current systems and environments and address them.

Need Help?

Give me a call, an email or contact me in whatever way you feel most comfortable. I am very happy to help and am certain I can be of help to you in your plan. I have implemented this solution ins both large and small organizations and can customize this cost saving solution to fit any environment and company size.

Debunking The Cost Of Quality And Productivity

I hear an awful about the cost of quality and how it impacts production in such negative terms. I thought maybe it's time to debunk the myth that investing in quality negatively impacts production.

Quantify This

the cost of quality is not defined as the expenses in creating, deploying and supporting a quality system as most think. It is rather the cost of not adopting a program. How much does it cost you to loose a contract for low quality? What does that do to your credibility? How does your bottom line suffer from your inability to gain more customers and secure more contracts? Actions speak a lot louder than words, as do bottom line realizations.

So, how much does it really cost?

It is a well know fact that poor quality costs the average business 15 to 30% because its product or service was not done right in the first place. So what is in the 15-30%? Rework, returns and big dollars. Is it worth the risk of loosing 15 or 30% for low quality? I am sure each of you can find something better to spend that money on.

1-10-100

So how much does a quality program really cost? An accurate rule of thumb suggests that a quality problem costing $100 to resolve in the field would cost only $10 to correct if discovered during design review and merely $1 to prevent in the first place. Surely, your reputation and bottom line are worth a dollar. There are four basic areas that will need your attention in developing your cost of implementing quality are Prevention, Inspection or Appraisal, Internal failure and the dreaded External failure cost. That makes them about a quarter each, a bargain at twice the price!

Investment

You have invested in the best machines, hired the brightest and smartest programmers in the industry to work on what you believe, it the best product or service around. I know you believe that or you would not get up every morning to go in to work. With all your dedication, hard work and effort, your investments are depreciating by the hour and being over utilized to clean up the mistakes made. This is a vicious cycle that feeds itself, the harder you work, the more you push, the deeper you get. Would you like a return on this investment? Quality programs actually appreciate with time. Your initial dollar ends up being two dollars in a year!

Lessons Learned

In conclusion, it is fair to say that we have witnessed quite a few failures recently due to poor quality programs. Had Mattel implemented quality standards into their contract with the firm who manufactured the toys that are responsible for the death of children with high lead levels, their stock would be riding high. Imagine if Topps had done better inspections of the beef and internal process checks, they might still be in business today instead of bankruptcy court. The cost of poor quality is high on many levels. It's worth a dollar.

LEAN Software Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is perceived as an extra, as overhead and generally, a cost center. To some extent, this is true. It is an investment in the long term and quality of your product or service in where the value can come back to you in any number of ways and most are not immediate or instant. Let's take a look at applying LEAN principles to Quality Assurance and see if we can improve it just a little. [more]