Ask any CIO, quality assurance in enterprise software delivery is tricky business. After all, unlike the production of physical products, software is created via invisible knowledge work – work that travels through a complex network of activity between conception and delivery. It’s hard to comprehend something you can’t see, let alone test it.
As knowledge work, a piece of software is only as strong as the data (artifacts such as features, epics, stories and defects) behind it. And that data is only as strong as the means of communication that shares it. For many organizations, communication is one of the biggest threats to their quality assurance process.
Instead of an automated real-time flow of data across key stages in the software delivery value stream, the specialist teams who plan, build and deliver software are using manual handoffs (such as email, phone, IM, spreadsheets, duplicate entry etc.) to share and access product-critical information. Such archaic methods are slow and susceptible to human error and a huge danger to data integrity.
That’s why many leading organizations – including nearly half of the Fortune 100 – are automating this flow of product-critical information through Value Stream Integration. By connecting all the specialist tools in their value stream, these organizations are creating a single, traceable flow of work from end-to-end. In doing so, all information that pertains to a product’s development is traced back to original requirement and its evolution in real time – enabling better test coverage and quality control to ensure a customer’s ever-changing needs are met.
In his latest article, Matt Angerer – a pre-sales architect at Tasktop – provides seven key reasons on why Value Stream Integration is so integral to quality assurance:
- Higher Awareness of the QA Function to Improve Software Quality and Delivery Velocity – Value Stream Integration surfaces the good, the bad, and the ugly as requirements are conceptualized, designed, and documented. QA is no longer an “afterthought” (test what we can when we can), it’s a fully integrated function of the SDLC. QA now has a seat at the “adult table” when organization’s embrace the concept of value stream integration end-to-end.
- Dramatic Improvements to your Defect Detection Effectiveness (DDE) – Bridging ITSM with ADM, calculating Defect Detection Percentage (DDP) on-the-fly – It’s not just about Code Commit to Release Time, DDP helps organizations measure how effective their regression testing is at trapping bugs before release. Value Stream Integration bridges the gap between ADM and ITSM.
- More Effective Change Impact Analysis, Control, and Management – losing the feedback loop to Fast Change Requirements. How many times have we seen organizations using Microsoft SharePoint lists to track Change Requests (CRs), separate from the tool they are using to develop test cases for Unit, System, Integration, Regression, and UAT? Disaster looms if you can’t associate the artifacts.
- Improved Test Coverage with Real-Time Feedback Loops – Infusing cross-platform alerting capability for Work Artifacts is central to driving Software Quality Assurance. Testing must always mirror requirements and one should always question the validity of a test case without an associated requirement to cover. Let me explain what cross-platform alerting is and how value stream integration drives a higher level of awareness and quality assurance
- “Shifting Left” to Reduce Costs and Improve Team Morale – involving QA very early in the SDLC – eliminate the “throw it over the fence” mentality and root out defects very early. Shifting left is all the buzz in the industry when it comes to improving software quality. How do we implement this concept though?
- Elimination of the “Ping Pong Effect” – Developer and Tester Alignment can be tightened across tools with a focus on Value Stream Integration. Bug fix time improves, and test coverage improves as QA Analysts aren’t explaining each step they took in the software under test to uncover a bug.
- Accelerated Buildouts of Global Testing Centers of Excellence – Building a Global Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE) does not require a unified tool as a single source of record for all working artifacts (releases, requirements, tests, defects, reports). One size does not fit all. Establishing a model of communication within your TCoE for all tributaries to converge into one river produces better results than tool consolidation. You can thrive with a multi-tool strategy across your lines of businesses. Let me explain why and how.
Want to know more? Join us for the webinar
Inspired by Matt’s trials and tribulations as a Program Testing Consultant, we will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday 27th June (9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern) to discuss how Value Stream Integration can revolutionize how you deliver and protect software quality for lasting results. Key takeaways from this webinar include:
- How to elevate the “QA Brand” in your organization with Value Stream Integration
- How to improve your Defect Detection Effectiveness (DDE) by understanding 2 key principles
- Techniques to drive effective change impact analysis, control, and management of changes
- How to improve automated test coverage with real-time feedback loops
- Why “swimming upstream” creates high quality software
- How to eliminate the “Ping Pong Effect” and achieve lasting developer & tester alignment
- Debunking the “One-Size-Fits-All” trend to platforms, governance, and Testing Centers of Excellence
Want a more personal touch? Request a highly-customized demo of how Tasktop can help you connect your end-to-end value stream to help you to measure, improve and optimize your enterprise software delivery.
