There isn’t any software quality assurance...

Best Practices

If your organization doesn’t have a software quality team in place, follow these five steps to get an effective group up and running.

1 Get support from senior management. If developers know that a CIO, CTO or CEO is backing the software quality assurance manager, they’ll be more likely to produce cleaner code. Get the attention of executives by connecting software quality to the bottom line.

2 Establish a quality organization (with processes, staff and an experienced manager). You may be able to form a group from in-house staff; however, E.M. Bennatan, senior consultant at the Cutter Consortium, says having an experienced, strong quality manager is vital. "You need someone who has spent a few years in the trenches and has gotten products out the door," he says.

3 Train developers too. Don’t save quality training just for the quality assurance group. Developers will pay closer attention to quality issues if they know what to watch out for.

4 Listen to your customers (or user group). Get customers involved in the development process. Offer them a beta version of software to test. "Their feedback is invaluable," says Bennatan.

5 Collect metrics. The quality process should be data-driven, according to Bennatan. Demonstrate that the quality of your products is improving.