Software quality management from

IBM: a closed-loop fitness program.

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Budget status

Defect glide path

Testing status

Requirements

volatility

Code churn

With iterative, component-based development and testing, validation and assessment

against business requirements (which the software is being developed to meet)

should occur often and continually which is not possible with traditional develop-

ment models. Quality management is more than defect repair. It is a proactive,

closed-loop software fitness program supporting continual integration of role players

and steps in the quality process.

Governance

Along with collaboration and continual integration of activities, you need to ensure

that data and metrics are open, accessible and traceable across roles and activities.

There are often multiple development/build/test cycles happening simultaneously

across lines of business, and revisions or new versions are being created in parallel.

At any time, delivery project managers must know the defect rates, code churn, costs

and point-in-time status for their projects (see figure 1 for an example). This ensures

readiness and credibility with staging and operations teams. Without real-time project

assessments and inherent governance capabilities, breakdowns in communication and

collaboration often lead to inefficiencies and delayed project cycles.

Figure 1: Assessment of business analytics and technical deliverables such as defect rates, code churn and

requirement volatility allows for cost, quality and time trade-offs of delivery projects.