Lighthouse Technologies recently had the pleasure of sponsoring and attending QA or the Highway—a day packed with thought-provoking talks, insightful conversations, and innovative ideas for tackling the toughest challenges in software quality today.
Our beach-themed booth wasn’t just a reminder to always have fun. At the center of it all was our raffle prize: an inflatable stand-up paddleboard. Why? Because just like navigating choppy water on a paddleboard, delivering great software requires balance. Not just balance in code quality and deadlines, but balance in life. When teams are constantly firefighting or stuck in crunch mode, both quality and morale suffer.
At Lighthouse, we believe you don’t have to choose between delivering great software and work-life balance; in fact, we understand the two go hand in hand. Sustainable success comes when teams are steady, supported, and not at risk of toppling over. The paddle board was our way of reminding attendees: you’ll go further—and stay upright longer—when you prioritize balance, both at work and home.
Focus On What Matters Most: At Work AND Home
The sessions at this year’s conference spanned hot topics like AI in testing, continuous delivery, resilient team design, and scaling quality in fast-moving environments. But, one theme echoed across nearly every session: software teams are under more pressure than ever. Burnout. Bugs. Missed deadlines. Scope creep. Unrealistic demands. You name it—it came up. And that’s exactly where Lighthouse President & CEO Jeff Van Fleet’s presentation hit home.
In his presentation, “Focus on What Matters Most: Improving Software Quality AND Work-Life Balance,” Jeff offered a practical, data-driven framework to help teams escape the all-too-common cycle of buggy releases, reactive firefighting, and burnout.
He kicked things off with a live poll of the room asking, “What issues is your software team facing?”. The audience’s responses overwhelmingly encompassed themes of chaos, rework, in-fighting, pressure and burnout. Sound familiar?
If you’re stuck in a similar never-ending cycle, the good news is that there is a way out! Jeff shared the story of a 250-developer team that was stuck in beta, drowning in open defects, and unable to release. Customers were frustrated and morale was low. That is, until Lighthouse stepped in with our True North Methodology™, a 4-step iterative process that uses real metrics to identify bottlenecks, uncover root causes, and guide sustainable improvement.
Root Cause Assessment: What the Metrics Revealed
To help the client get back on track, Lighthouse first started with our Root Cause Analysis where we uncovered 475 findings, including complex code. Why does code complexity matter? Cyclomatic complexity (a measure of how many test cases are required for a module) can make or break your release. Here’s the grading scale we use to determine how complex a module’s code is:
- Code with 10+ branches is fragile
- Code with 51+ branches is untestable
- This client had 1,655 complex modules—9.5% of their system
PRO TIP: Use tools like SonarQube to monitor cyclomatic complexity regularly. A good goal is for <1.5% of the code to be fragile!
On top of code complexity, the client was averaging 22.1 new defects/day—but only fixing 20.3/day, with a 25% bad fix rate. Needless to say, they were drowning in defect backlog and stuck in a vicious loop!
Iterative Roadmap Forward: Better Software Quality AND Work-Life Balance
So, how did they break the cycle? By identifying and refactoring fragile code, better defining and training processes, and establishing release readiness criteria, the client’s team was able to:
- Resolve production quality issues
- Boost delivery confidence
- Restore team morale
- Improve customer satisfaction
- And most importantly… breathe again
In his presentation, Jeff included the following powerful graph which predicted how many defects would still be in the client’s system by their planned release date (vertical, black dotted line). Thanks to that visibility, the client knew to keep testing. They delayed the release and delivered a version their customers loved. YOU CAN’T MANAGE WHAT YOU DON’T MEASURE!
Final Takeaway: You Deserve Better
Whether it was through conversations at our booth or discussions in the breakout rooms, one message came through loud and clear at QA or the Highway: software teams want better. They want smarter processes, cleaner code, and above all—balance.
If your team is dealing with never-ending bugs, missed deadlines, or constant firefighting, we can help. Want to learn more? Request a copy of Jeff’s presentation slides or schedule a free consultation to explore how our True North Methodology™ can help your software team get back on track—with better quality and fewer late nights.
Sarah Roberts is the Marketing Specialist at Lighthouse Technologies where she leads marketing strategies and conducts market research within the tech industry. A 2021 graduate of Miami University, Sarah brings a fresh, innovative perspective to industry trends and best practices. Her engaging and relatable blogs simplify complex topics, making them accessible and enjoyable for readers of all backgrounds.
