I present to you the age-old question of project leaders everywhere. How do you know it’s time to release your software? From the development side, they may feel like they are nearing the finish line, but the project leader has a different perspective, so don’t let the team pack up just yet!
Here are some signs you’re nearing the end:
You’re told, “Everything is perfect”
Yeah, I know. I’ll pause for a minute while you cycle through that laughter. In an ideal world, everything works exactly as designed, the birds are singing, and you see a rainbow from the window outside. Here in the real world of software development, it looks a little different.
Back to reality, you have all of the bugs documented, and you have resolved all of the critical or most expensive defects by calculating the technical debt of allowing those defects to remain through the release. For the remaining defects, you have negotiated and scheduled correction for those after the release. You documented everything, planned it through, and the appropriate parties approve all details.
Pro Tip: With Lighthouse Technologies’ fully outsourced solution, we can pinpoint an expectation of how many defects we’ll find in our work together and help you calculate the ROI of an engagement
Yet-to-be-discovered defects are looking good
If you go live, how many bugs will your customers find? Honestly, unless you’re building a medical device or a nuclear reactor, the number isn’t zero. At Lighthouse, we have perfected a methodology to forecast this and allow your leadership team to understand the risks of going live.
We know what development methodology your team is using and what quality control techniques they are employing, we know how many test cases we executed, we know the development team’s “bad fix rate”, we know how fast we are finding bugs, and we know how many testers we are using. Based on all of this intelligence, we can forecast your customer satisfaction and how many help desk calls you are likely to get when you go live.
SMEs are smiling
A smiling SME is an excellent sign that the software is meeting their expectations – or darn close to it. So, if you haven’t started prioritizing and negotiating what can wait to repair after the release, consider your smiling SMEs as your cue to begin addressing those remaining details.
You are feeling the pressure
While it’s not the best reason, it is a reality for many. The pressure to roll out into production is coming from leadership in droves because every delay costs the company and impacts their ROI. If you’ve had some considerable delays in this project, they can be feeling that pressure, and they want you to feel that pressure too.
Documentation is critical at this point, especially if leadership is trying to force a release prematurely. You want that decision to be well-informed, so prepare a summary of the current state and the risks associated with each significant defect allowed to pass through the initial release. Below are a few tips for putting together such a summary.
Be as detailed as possible about the functionality being left behind as a result of a premature release. List each missing piece of functionality and identify the risks and workarounds. In addition to missing functionality, identify all open defects and document the risks and workarounds. For instance, does a defect prevent any customer interactions? Is there a viable workaround? Will operational processes get slower because of the lost functionality? Be very clear and be sure to paint the full picture.
Ideally, share what this means in terms of hard and soft dollars. Hard dollars refer to documented cash, typically in the form of lost sales or increased expenses, that can be notated clearly on the accounting ledger. Soft dollars refer to time and work. Sacrificed functionality due to defects or workarounds still cost the organization money because of the time spent.
Is everyone ready?
The next step is to make sure that those affected by the software are ready, willing, and able to receive the new software. If you are lucky, you have a change manager on your team to handle this “people side of change” while you manage the details around systems and availability.
It sounds like a lot!! And, it is!! But, you have help available.
Enter Lighthouse Technologies – your complete resource for software quality and testing.
Software testing alone is only one step to your overall readiness. The more skill and experience you have in your corner, the better. Lighthouse Technologies’ True North Testing Methodology™ and holistic approach to quality assurance has a keen eye on all of the details contributing to your project success. Contact us, and let’s talk about how we can help you finish your projects on time, on budget, and on quality!
