QA: A Declaration of Independence
Why freedom and independence is crucial to ensure quality in Web design.
Posted 03 Dec 2007, late morning.
Tagged with project management, qa, qc, red ant, web design, web development, website qa, website testing.
We've recently had one of our regular desk-shuffles at Red Ant and I found myself evicted from my cosy corner and bumped to the upper regions of the building. Alas, the email only gave me twenty minutes notice (as is tradition) so I didn't have time to consider the ramifications until I'd moved upstairs. When I did, I spotted a worryingly fundamental flaw.
What is QA?
Quality Assurance is the process of ensuring a product (in this case, a Website) achieves an acceptably high level of quality.
To repeat my previous definition of quality:
I define quality in a product as "the degree of excellence"; the level at which something performs its intended task and withstands the challenges that are put before it. It's about stability, maintainability, flexibility, portability, expandability, style, efficiency and the lack of defect. It's about doing it better than the rest.
Technically speaking, there is a difference between QA and QC which I will leave for another day. For the purposes of this article, I am using the term QA to refer to all activity within the company that sets standards and measures work against those standards to ensure quality.
Why is independence important?
QA activity - if the true aim is to produce a product of the highest possible quality - is an inherently disruptive activity; the whole idea is to find faults - to actively try to break things. QA has to poke its nose into places it's not necessarily welcome, asking questions and making demands that may well cause extra work and delays. At the same time, there needs to be an element of inconspicuousness. As I argued in a previous post, the ultimate aim must always be 'the best we can do' and not simply 'good enough'.
QA cannot be embedded into the production team; it's just too close to the action. To some extent, it needs to function independently of management too. QA needs to operate outside the circle, lurking in the shadows; the Web design version of MI5, if you will. It needs the freedom to both look at the big picture from a distance and be able to probe down into all the dark nooks and crannies. By keeping a distance from the 'fog of war' that often surrounds the production line, it offers a fresh pair of eyes and an open mind.
It is also, often, the last line of technical consultation and analysis before the project is released to the client.
I think Red Ant is quite unique among Web design agencies of a similar size in that we have someone dedicated purely to QA. However, it is only one person. If we fail to maintain the independence of this 'department', there is a danger that this strength will be diluted and lost into a mere afterthought.
I have therefore moved back downstairs to the domain of account management and administration where I intend to resume practice as a free and independent pain in the arse.
