defining quality with the help of your customer• iso 9126 manufacturing based: • good...
Post on 19-Mar-2020
6 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
2
Quality and Customers
or The Blind Men Meet The Quality Elephant:
How What They See Affects Testers
Isabel Evans
Testing Solutions Group Limited
6th Floor, Walbrook House, 23-29 Walbrook
London EC4N 8BT
email: enquiry@testing-solutions.com
http://www.testing-solutions.com
tel: +44(0)207 623 2012
fax: +44(0)207 929 0883
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
3
A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said,
"Sir, there are living here in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on forever, and so forth. What, Sir, would you say concerning
them?"
So the exalted one told them the story of the blind men and the elephant…
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rywang/berkeley/258/parable.html
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
4
…When the blind men met the elephant they each felt a different part of it…… what sort of thing is
an elephant?...
The men who were presented with the head answered, 'Sire, an elephant is like a pot.' And the men who had observed the ear replied, 'An
elephant is like a winnowing basket.' Those who had been presented with a tusk said it was a ploughshare. Those who knew only the trunk
said it was a plough; others said the body was a granary; the foot, a pillar; the back, a mortar; the
tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a brush.
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
5
The exalted one continued…"Then they began to
quarrel, shouting, 'Yes it is!' 'No, it is not!' 'An
elephant is not that!' 'Yes, it's like that!' and so
on, till they came to blows over the matter.
"Just so are these preachers and scholars holding
various views blind and unseeing.... In their
ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome,
wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining
reality is thus and thus."
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
6
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by
uttering this verse of uplift,
O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing.
Jainism and Buddhism. Udana 68-69:
Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
7
Quality is an elephant
• The blind men knew the elephant - it was there, it was big, and they all knew it in different ways
• Quality – it’s big, it’s scary, it’s in the room…And everyone experiences it in different ways…
• We waste time arguing about it - your elephant is different to mine…
• Sometimes we testers argue with each other instead of listening… and we spend more time on our own disputes instead of listening to what our customers need.
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
8
So what’s the problem?
• We testers concentrate on measuring such items as defect density and product attributes.
• We do this to use testing to help mitigate risk
• We are passionate about testing and about improving testing
• But we have different ideas about how to do it...
• We believe we are working towards providing better solutions for our customers yet they reject our efforts. Why is this?
• Sometimes… testing can increase risk; for the test team, for the project and for the customer organisation
• For example, if we pursue our own view of quality and argue about what we mean we may increase risk.
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
10
IT definitions of quality
Product based:
• quality is based on a well-
defined set of software
quality attributes
• these attributes must be
measured in an objective
and quantitative way
• ISO 9126
Manufacturing based:
• good specification,
design and construction
processes
• software product in
conformance with the
original requirements
• quality is based on
inspection and analysis of
faults and failures in
products
See van Veenendaal “Testing Practitioner”
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
11
Business definitions of quality
User based definition:
• quality is fitness for use
• software quality should
be determined by the
user(s) of a product in a
specific business
situation
• quality can have many
subjective aspects
Value based definition:
• software quality should
always be determined by
means of trade-offs
between time, effort and
cost aspects
• needs communication
with all parties involved,
e.g. sponsors, customers,
developers and
producers
See van Veenendaal “Testing Practitioner”
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
12
A nebulous definition of quality...
Transcendent definition:
• esoteric definition
• quality can, in principle, be recognised easily
• depends on perceptions and feelings of an individual or
group of individuals towards a type of software product
• least operational but should not be neglected in practice
• Recognise this? – it is the killer!
• Are people happy with…?
See van Veenendaal “Testing Practitioner”
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
13
Aren’t we right?
• “After all, as testers, we are the experts on quality and risk…”
• Mistake! – we may only see our own view!
• If testers focus on one definition (our own) we may not communicate well with others in the organization who use a different definition.
• Testers need to listen and understand the quality viewpoints of others, if we are to deliver what is required.
• In the end the risks we take with testing are risks that affect our customer, our colleagues and ourselves.
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
14
Our audiences and us…
What goes wrong?
Why don’t people listen…?
Berne “Games People Play”
Wagner “Transactional Manager”
Lee Copeland SIGiST talk 1999
Grove Consultants EuroSTAR play 2001
Personal and
organisational
history
Repeating
communication
problems
Games and scripts
Rescuers, persecutors, victims
Co-dependent behaviour
Transactional Analysis
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
15
Crossed and uncrossed
communication
CP
NP
A
NC
CC RC
LP
CP
NP
A
NC
CC RC
LP
We think we exchange facts...
but actually we exchange … what?
Crossing can change the response state
Wagner “Transactional Manager”
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
16
Our colleagues and us...
FactsEmotion
Intuition
Judgement
Pessimism
Logical
Positive
Creative
Alternatives
Overview
of process
Jens Pas EuroSTAR 2001 workshop
De Bono: Six Hats
Black Red White
Yellow Green Blue
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
17
How can we get closer to
understanding other people’s elephants?
• Our testing may enable or prevent our customer
meeting goals, fulfilling strategy, or even
achieving proper governance.
• If we examine the framework for excellence
used by our customer organisations we will often
find ways to measure our success in relation to
their corporate goals and strategy.
• This enables us to understand how our work
helps the customers’ strategy for quality and
governance.
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
19
Kaplan & Norton
Balanced Business
Scorecard adapted in
ASWQTT for quality
Evans “Achieving Software
Quality Through Teamwork”18
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
20
Exploratory v scripted testing
The exalted one continued…"Then they began to
quarrel, shouting, 'Yes it is!' 'No, it is not!' 'An
elephant is not that!' 'Yes, it's like that!' and so
on, till they came to blows over the matter.
"Just so are these preachers and scholars holding
various views blind and unseeing.... In their
ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome,
wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining
reality is thus and thus."
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
21
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by
uttering this verse of uplift,
O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing.
Jainism and Buddhism. Udana 68-69:
Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
22
Just remember..
• Is it wise to join in the procession of “the blind leading the blind”?... It depends …Seehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1466742,00.html for some accessibility news…
• And http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bruegel/pieter_e/painting/parable.html for BRUEGEL’s painting
• In the Land of the Blind the one-eyed man is king…
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
23
The elephant is everywhere!
• American poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) based his poem on a fable which was told in India many years ago.
• It is quoted as a tale from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts
• See http://www.anekant.org/The%205%20Blind%20Men%20and%20the%20Elephant.htm for an animation
EuroSTAR
December 2005
©TSG
24
Referencesvan Veenendaal “Testing Practitioner”
Berne “Games People Play”
Wagner “Transactional Manager”
De Bono “Six Hats”
Kaplan & Norton “Balanced Business Scorecard”
Evans “Achieving Software Quality Through Teamwork”
Schmaltz “The Blind Men and the Elephant: Mastering Project Work”
http://www.anekant.org/The%205%20Blind%20Men%20and%20the%20Elephant.htm
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~rywang/berkeley/258/parable.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1466742,00.html
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bruegel/pieter_e/painting/parable.html
http://www.anekant.org/The%205%20Blind%20Men%20and%20the%20Elephant.htm
Lee Copeland SIGiST talk 1999
Grove Consultants EuroSTAR play 2001
Jens Pas EuroSTAR 2001 workshop
top related