Many methods for product quality improvement start by investigating the problems, and then working their way back to the point where the problem started. For instance audits and Root Cause Analysis work this way. But what if you could prevent problems from happening, by building an understanding what drives quality, thus enabling to take action before problems actually occur?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have more insight into the quality of a product, while it is developed, instead of afterwards? If you could measure the quality of your product, and take action when there is a risk that the quality would become lower than required by your customer?
Communication is an important factor in improvement programs. Communication using visual management pictures the goals and approach. It motivates people to commit to change, by showing expected benefits and early results. But wrong or too much communication can also frustrate people, getting them to resist changing.
Software reviews and inspections significantly improve the quality of products, and provide major savings in cost and time. Sound logical, but where is the data to prove it? I’ve made an overview of data that has been published on the business benefits of reviews.
The quality of software is often still insufficient. Pair programming is a proven technique that prevents defects from entering the code.
R&D Organizations are more and more relying on measurements, but many struggle to implement them. There are the usual technical problems associated with collecting and storing data, and creating usable reports. However, the biggest challenges are often related to using the data to actually make decisions and steer the activities of the organization.
I have described a process and a checklist to help organizations that want to start with it, and I´m providing a report with an example in a handy booklet on RCA: Tools for Root Cause Analysis.
Veel IT organisaties zijn in verandering. Daarbij verandert vaak de manier waarop de werkzaamheden ingericht zijn, en de aansturing en rapportage. Voorbeelden daarvan zijn "Het Nieuwe Werken", Scrum en Agile werkwijzen, tijdelijke samenwerkingsvormen zoals teams en steeds korter durende projecten. In hoeverre zijn de "traditionele" kwaliteitsmethodieken, gebaseerd op ISO, INK, TQM en CMMI nog steeds bruikbaar?
Some companies say that “people are our most important resource”. I’d rather use the term “professionals”, since they are trained, have build up experience and are continuously developing themselves to deliver value for your customers. Question is: Are they empowered to do this in a efficient and effective way? The People-CMM can be used to develop a powerful professional workforce, supporting self-organizing agile teams.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) has been used for many years to determine a fault’s first or “root” causes in order to identify process improvement opportunities. The CMMI V1.3 has increased the possible deployment of RCA.
In november 2010 heeft het Software Engineering Institute (SEI) een nieuwe versie uitgebracht van het Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI): V1.3. Dit artikel geeft een overzicht van de wijzigingen, en gaat in op de waarde van deze nieuwe CMMI versie.
In october 2010, version 1.3 of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) has been released by the Software Engineering Institute. I’ve published several articles on the benefits of CMMI V1.3. This is (for now) the last article, which sums it all up.