BIO PRESENTATION PAPER T15 5/17/2007 3:00:00 PM "F ROM S TART U P TO W ORLD C LASS T ESTING " Iris Trout Bloomberg, lp International Conference On Software Test Analysis And Review May 14-18, 2007 Orlando, FL USA
Iris C. Trout Iris C. Trout Iris Trout is currently the Director of Quality at Bloomberg, LP where she is responsible for the quality assurance of trading applications globally. She has created a world class organization by implementing basic, solid, QA strategies to gain efficiency and improve productivity. Iris has been managing financial Quality Assurance teams and process improvement efforts for many years. Previously she was a Vice President at JP Morgan overseeing the CMM and Six Sigma rollout within their retail banking division. She has also created and managed several Quality Assurance testing efforts including teams at McKinsey & Company, MetLife and Merrill Lynch. Iris was formerly a CMM lead assessor and holds a black belt in Six Sigma. She feels that concentrating on the implementation of QA best practices and practical solutions can yield strong team results.
How to Build a World- How to Build a World -Class Quality Class Quality Class Quality How to Build a World How to Build a World Class Quality Assurance Team Assurance Team Assurance Team Assurance Team Presented by: Iris Trout of Bloomberg LP Presented by: Iris Trout of Bloomberg LP May 13, 2007 May 13, 2007 May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 1
How to Build a World- -Class QA Organization Class QA Organization How to Build a World Topics to be covered during the course of this presentation: � Key Components to a Strong QA Team � Evaluating Your Staffing Model � Hiring a Solid Tester � Obtain a Commitment to QA from Your Stakeholders � Implement a Communication Plan for QA � Establish and Promote QA’s Goal and Mission Statement � Service Level Agreements and QA Processes � Review Your Processes Early and Often � How do Peer Reviews Relate to/Benefit QA? � Metrics and Reporting � What is your Strategy � How Will You Implement Change? � A Phased Approach � Tool Sets for Testing / Keys to a Successful Test Automation Effort � Wrap-up May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 2
How to Build a World- -Class QA Organization Class QA Organization How to Build a World Presentation Handouts: 1. QA staffing interview questionnaire 2. Stakeholder analysis template 3. Stakeholder Communication Plan 4. Quality Masters training presentation 5. Metrics scorecard sample with sample metrics 6. QA organizational goal template May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 3
Do Any of These Scenarios Sound Familiar? Do Any of These Scenarios Sound Familiar? • Have you been asked to create a QA group, but you don’t know where to even begin? • Have you been given unmanageable deadlines? • Does your QA staff consist of an untrained hodgepodge of employees that are treated as though they are untalented or insignificant? • Are your testing tools--if available--inadequate or rarely used? Do developers have very little time for your QA staff? Does your QA staff • rarely receive adequate requirements, and do business owners make changes to requirements frequently without advising your QA staff? • Does management view your QA staff as a "must have" without fully understanding why? • Are you being asked to automate your tests, but you can’t understand how to use the tool or how to train the testers on proper automation techniques? May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 4
Key Components to a Strong QA Team Key Components to a Strong QA Team • Hire or internally identify talented QA test resources. • Gain a commitment from your stakeholders to QA. Maintain constant and open lines of communication between IT, Business, and QA. • Establish a Quality Center of Excellence (QCOE) to operate as the hub for development and implementation of QA process improvement throughout the SDLC and consistently across the QA organization. • Incorporate strong processes for bug identification, tracking, resolution and metrics reporting. • Employ a strategy with actionable goals to accomplish process improvements. Communicate your goals—and their results—to your stakeholders! • Continuously invest in your staff by giving them the right tools to do the job (i.e. training). May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 5
Evaluate Your Staffing Model Evaluate Your Staffing Model • Identify: • Continually evaluate your QA staff by identifying those with the right skill sets, high performers, and agents of change. • Hire: • Hire new staff members with strong QA methodology to complement other product-savvy team members. • Consider starting with qualified QA consultants until your new team is fully trained. This creates a good mix of product knowledge and QA knowledge. • Train: • Evaluate vendors that can help increase your staff’s knowledge of QA best practices as they relate to QA process and methodology. • Encourage your staff to meet with Business and IT to increase the depth of their product knowledge. • Promote cross training. May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 6
Hiring a Solid Tester Hiring a Solid Tester • Make sure that you ask the right questions (refer to the QA Interview checklist). • Where possible, involve your stakeholders in the interview process. • Ask for real-life examples of the applicant’s work. • Show potential candidates around the area where they will be working, and have them meet with other testers. • Consider, but don’t rely solely upon, industry certifications. May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 7
Obtain a Commitment to QA from Your Obtain a Commitment to QA from Your Stakeholders Stakeholders • Who are QA’s stakeholders? • Why does a tester need to be familiar with their stakeholders? • How do I assess the level of commitment I have from my stakeholders? • Refer to the Stakeholder Analysis form. • What is the tester’s and/or test manager’s role in communicating with the stakeholders, and how often? • Refer to the Stakeholder Communication Plan . May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 8
Implement a Communication Plan for QA Implement a Communication Plan for QA Keep talking… • Testers should meet with stakeholders. • QA management should implement a stakeholder communication plan. • Test managers should meet with Business and IT leaders to discuss goals, plans, and QA progress • Management should meet with their teams on a regular basis and according to a published schedule: • Quarterly department meetings • Weekly manager meetings • Bi-weekly one-on-one meetings with each team leader • Quarterly skip level meetings May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 9
Establish and Promote QA Promote QA’ ’s s Goal and Goal and Establish and Mission Statement Mission Statement GOAL statement: • Your goal is to establish a highly workable and executable set of Service Level Agreements (SLA) between business partners and the test team that will serve to help improve the workflow while increasing test coverage and test quality with an unbiased, independent view . MISSION statement: • To increase the levels of efficiency, reliability, test coverage, quality, and communication while supporting the testing of the current releases. May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 10
Service Level Agreements and QA Processes Service Level Agreements and QA Processes A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract for the delivery of a specified level of service. • Create an SLA with your stakeholders to define the quality delivery of a service: • SLA should state how, what, and when you will deliver. • SLA should address what’s In-scope and out-of-scope, timing issues, etc. • SLAs should contain one or more clearly written and measurable service level objective. • Determine how the level of customer satisfaction will be measured prior to setting your SLAs. • Be sure that all of your processes are sustainable, repeatable, measurable, well-documented and easily accessible for inspection. May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 11
Service Level Agreements and QA Processes Service Level Agreements and QA Processes (SLAs continued) • Your guidelines should be well-understood and explicitly communicated. • Your SLAs should satisfy the needs of the business lines that are being supported: • Identify key issues of priority, investment, resources, risk. • You may have to adjust your processes to manage the SLAs. • Understand what components support the business. • Be able to react to service level issues--this will be expected. • Track, measure, and report to ensure you are meeting your agreements. • Revisit and refine your SLAs as the needs of the business evolve. May 13, 2007 Iris Trout, Bloomberg LP 12
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