Introduction to TDT 4235

Tor StålhaneIDI / NTNU

Introduction TDT 4235 – Quality assurance and process improvement – consists of two parts:•Quality Assurance – QA: nine lectures, covered by 14 chapters in the compendium. •Software Process Improvement – SPI: 23 lectures, covered by 19 chapters in the compendiumLectures are held on •Wednesdays 13:15 – 14:00 in F6•Fridays 11:15 – 13:00 in F3

What will you learnThis course have two foci: QA and SPI. In the course we will focus on how to do QA and SPI in an industrial setting. This means that quit a lot of what you will learn are methods that •Look a little “un-scientific” and contains little mathematics and proofs•Are simple to use in practice•Are based on solid industrial experience and are known to work in practice

What will you learn – QA (1)• An intro to quality and quality assurance• The concept of Total Quality Management –

TQM• The International Standards Organization

quality standard ISO 9001 plus its guidelines for software – ISO 90003

• How to certify a quality system• Different types of standards

What will you learn – QA (2)• How to introduce and implement a standard

in a company• Quality improvement – the what’s and how’s• How to measure and assess quality• A product quality standard – ISO 9126• QA, ISO 9001 and agile development (Scrum)• QA, TQM and innovations – pros and cons

What will you learn – SPI (1)SPI in an industrial setting is about three main activities•Data collection and analysis – what is the problem, where does it come from and how big is it?•Root Cause Analysis – how can we get rid of or reduce the problem?•Post-analysis – did our solution really work and what can we learn from it?

What will you learn – SPI (2)• An intro to software process improvement• SPI through best practice – CMM – and

through problem solving – TQM • Analysing risk and opportunity – the GALE and

ALARP methods• Data collection for SPI– SWOT, Gap analysis and Open space.– Affinity diagrams, interviews, surveys and

experiments

What will you learn – SPI (3)• Subjective data and how to analyse them• Data archaeology • Post Mortem Analysis – PMA – and business

value• Root Cause Analysis – RCA• Goal – Question – Metrics, the GQM method for

data collection • Data analysis– Plotting – Statistical analysis– Sample size

What will you learn – SPI (4)• Reuse of experience• Proactive SPI • Alternative SPI – a collection of methods that

has been used and sometimes worked quite well

• Several case studies from industrial SPI

About exercises – 1 The exercises will be done in groups of 3 to 5 persons. There are three exercises:•Exercise 1: write a QA procedure for a Small – Medium Enterprise (SME).•Exercise 2: write an essay. The topic have to be selected from a predefined list of essay topics. The result will count for 30% of your grade.•Exercise 3: perform data analysis of a set of error reports and suggest improvements for the company.

About exercises – 2

You need to get together and•Form groups•Report the group’s members to the teaching assistant, who will give the group a serial number. All group members will get the same assessment •Pass or No pass for exercise 1 and 3•Points between 0 and 30 for exercise 2

Students’ expectations – 1 I need to know what you expect to get out of the course. •I’m not planning to meet all your expectations•I will tell you which of your expectations that– Will be met. E.g. you will learn about how to

assess product quality– Will not be met. E.g. you will not learn how to be a

better programmer.

Students’ expectations – 2You can help me by writing down your expectations for the course on a piece of paper – one short sentence per item – and give it to me after this lecture I will analyse the input, make a summary and tell you which part of your expectations that will be met by the course.The summary will be presented at the start of the lecture next Monday.