Most quality initiatives are inhibited because of our short-term focus. Management expects results quickly and needs to be able to demonstrate a short-term return on investment. Since quality is a long-term investment of time, budget, and resources, we are often in conflict with management’s real goals and objectives. Steve will provide us with ideas for planning our QA function improvements using short-term initiatives to demonstrate a quick return on investment while working toward long-term objectives.
Steve Devinney is the Managing Director of the Quality Assurance Institute (QAI). In this role Steve is responsible for developing and maintaining a strategy for quality management in an information services group. Steve has 32 years of IS experience in various capacities. Immediately prior to joining QAI, Steve spent two and half years in the capacity of expert witness for a lawsuit brought against a leading hardware/software vendor. His responsibility in the litigation was to identify root causes for process failures in a major application development project. Steve regularly conducts public and private seminars and has lectured at numerous quality conferences around the world. Steve holds the Certified Quality Analyst and Certified Software Test Engineer designations and is listed in Who’s Who in America.
Do You Really Need Management Commitment To Improve?
There are many industry pundits who would have you believe that recognition through an industry model is the only sign of success. QAI refers to these as “prescriptive” models. You have a headache so you take two aspirins and the pain goes away. You want quality so you subscribe to a model, adopt the prescriptive initiatives to your environment, and the bad quality goes away. So simple, isn’t it? So why isn’t everyone at CMM Level 5?
In reality, many models are not suited for small organizations. Many do no meet the real business needs of the organization. Management is not committed to long-term improvement programs. Most prescriptive models tell you “what” to do not “how” to do it. Prescriptive models are expensive and time consuming to implement. What alternatives do you have?
QAI has developed a “non-prescriptive”, customizable, integrated approach to improvement that is based upon an understanding of the above and the competencies needed to “make it happen”. This presentation will demonstrate how improvements can be implemented in environments where management is not totally committed and in environments where management wants to achieve the highest levels of maturity.
Steve's presentation is available in the following formats:
PowerPoint 4.0 PPT (194kb)
PowerPoint 4.0 ZIP (86kb)
PowerPoint 97 PPT (893kb)
PowerPoint 97 ZIP (66kb)
Following our main presentation, you are invited to join the meeting of TCQAA’s special interest group (SIG). They will meet for about an hour, starting shortly after the general program