When deciding how to apply QA to a project there are 2 approaches I am aware of, building QA into the project so it is completed as an integral part of the project activities or adding a resource to the project that specifically looks at the QA aspects of the project to ensure it they are being done. Adding the resource is easy to understand.
My question, does anyone have experience adding QA into a large project and what does that include and or exclude?
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I used to work with QA in a defence industry company. There the QA was an independant organisation that was included (one or more part time resources) in all projects. This gave us the independance needed according to mil-standards etc. Why do we need independance? Because otherwise the PM could "order" us to improve things eventhough not according to the customer spec. I don't know if this is an issue for you, but it was in our line of business. Problems was that we needed to have "hours" from all projects naturally, we sometimes had to fight for getting the hours needed. But mostly the PM understood the need.
I also think that QA is necessary to support the project regarding procedures, how to do things etc. I do not see QA as some kind of police organisation, but as a guiding/supporting part of the organisation. We could tell the project what was needed and stop the customer from having to much impact on the work.
BR
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Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Hi Mike, our quality planning and application of QA is part of our software development PLC and it is treated similarly, from a process point of view, in both approaches you mentioned. We appreciate the value of skilled QA and independent QA testing and we are increasing using it for larger projects. We also like the ability to send QA work to a different time zone, hence achieving 24 by 7 work output. There are a few issues with IP management, so there are actions that are required that are clearly different in the two approaches assuming your added QA resource is external. Nonetheless, we still follow the same process for how we respond to QA outputs, "issues" vis a vis project plan change requests for scope, schedule, and cost. Hope this helps. -- Mark Perry, VP Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
