Vasile Selegean

In a general, as a widely accepted definition, quality of a product is the main characteristic that differentiates that aforementioned product in relation to other, similar products available on the market. Quality implies meeting the customer’s expectations, at a cost that the customer affords (or: agrees) to pay, so that we, as a provider of goods or services, will be able to do this the next day and the day after that. A bug-free product is not necessarily a good-quality product. Quality is as good as its perception by the end-users, as good as meeting the end-users’ expectations. Of course, a bug-free product is more likely to be perceived as a good one, but that’s just part of the whole picture. This is an important part, no one could argue about, but just one part of the picture. “Quality Assurance” is the set of activities aiming to build quality into our final product. It consist of preventive and corrective actions that ensure us and our customers that the product we deliver meets their expectations. Customers’ expectations derive from the intended use of our product and from various legal or industry standards.

“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster” said Sun Tzu some 2500 years ago. I will not review his “Art of War”. Today I will talk about Agile and its most used flavour these days: Scrum. Is the Scrum/Agile movement the enemy of Software Development Craftsmanship? Is it a creativity killer? What about the team’s productivity?

In an article here on TSM, earlier this year, I have tried to explain what Quality Assurance is and how it fits into an agile environment. Today I will move forward and describe the first steps in defining and implementing a Quality Management process in a software development project, be it agile or not.

Imagine you need a paint job for your beloved collection car, or new house. You hire the best contractors, instruct them to use the best supplies on the market, give them the best tools and pay them a little more than the market average. They finish the job on time, within the budget. Everyone is happy and you may throw in a little party. But, within a month or two, small rust stains become visible or little cracks start to develop. What went wrong? The best team you hired did not allow for the foundation layer to dry properly, according to the supplier instructions, and started to apply the paint after 4 hours, instead of 6.