Why Do We Need QA Involved So Early in the Project?

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Yes it is necessary!

Early on in my role as QA Analyst, I saw first hand the pitfalls of getting QA involved in a project too late. After all, it’s common knowledge that testing is not needed until the end of the project… Right?   Wrong! 

The project was about 75% complete when I came on board. The requirements were pretty well set (in somebody’s mind), but they were not all in one place. It turned out that they were sprinkled among the many other project documents and it wasn’t until we gathered them up to review that the stakeholders realized they were not exactly what they thought they were. Nobody likes surprises this late into a project because it usually leads to delays and more cost. As you might suspect, things did not end as well as they should have for this project.

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We Have Moved

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Welcome to the QA Blog!

We have moved our Quality Assurance blog from the QA website to the new PMO website as part of ITS!

The QA group is now a member of the ITS – Project Management Office (PMO), and is dedicated to providing testing services for all software projects within the (PMO). Among other things, these testing services include test planning, determining test strategies, exploring the user’s needs, and reporting issues effectively.

Everyone has heard of Quality Assurance, but there are many differing opinions on what it really is. And just as many questions; such as…

  • What is Quality Assurance?
  • Why do we need it?
  • Can we really assure the quality of anything?

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The Value of Lessons Learned

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Every project encounters challenges. How the team handles them, and what they learn, can be a valuable tool for future projects if it is leveraged properly.

This months post comes to us from Kenneth Darter over at Project Smart. He discusses proper methods to document Lessons Learned in your project (both positive and negative), when to document, and how to bring that knowledge forward to run future projects more effectively in your organization.

Are you using Lessons Learned to their best effectiveness in your project?

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Project Change Management

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It’s February, and the change of seasons is fast approaching, so now seemed like a great time to talk about Change Management. Change management is a complex, and often overlooked, component of projects. It’s critical, however, to understand that change must be managed since it is an inherent part of every project.

This piece from The Balance gives a nice in-depth overview with clear examples of how PM’s navigate and manage formal (and informal) changes on their projects.

See you in the Spring.

13 Project Management Terms You Should Know

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Happy New Year!

This month’s post is an “infographic” provided by Visually, and it gives explanations for thirteen common Project Management terms.

Many of these are common sense, and if you’ve worked on a project you’ve probably heard them (especially from your PM!) That said, you may not have, and it’s a handy primer that all project team members should be familiar with. Communication is a huge part of project management, and if your entire project team is “speaking the same language” and familiar with common expressions, it can increase their chances for success.