What tools and techniques do you use to test your project deliverables for quality?

In my experience, establishing clear quality standards at the outset of a project is essential. Such standards serve as the benchmark against which all deliverables are measured. Moreover, quality standards are not just arbitrary criteria; they are derived from comprehensive research and analysis of the industry landscape, client preferences, and even global regulatory nuances. Personally, I've witnessed projects where ambiguous or ill-defined quality standards led to avoidable errors, scope creep, and missed deadlines. As industry specialists, we need to understand that consistent adherence to well-defined quality standards isn't just a best practice; it's a strategic imperative.

At a time when the technical team which I was part of, were asked to design and produce pushcarts for the sales of dairy products. I first took into consideration the quality of the road we are plying, the weight of the box we are to use, the quality of the material, and the standard target on service and durability. Others were more concerned with cost, and they opted for lesser materials. Consequently, the pushcart samples they made, broke down after two weeks during test assessment, while mine was still operating without issues. We must always ensure that the deliverables meet the expectations and requirements of the stakeholders.

Tool and Techniques we use: Manual Testing: Test by exploring and trying things out. Automation: Automate tests with tools like Selenium. CI/CD Tools: Automate builds and tests with Jenkins. Load and Performance Testing: Test under heavy loads with tools like J-Meter. Security Testing: Check for security issues with tools like OWASP ZAP. Code Quality Tools: Use SonarQube to check code quality. Code Reviews: Review code manually. Usability Testing: Watch users interact with the software. Cross-Browser Testing: Ensure it works on different browsers. API Testing: Test APIs with tools like Postman. Test Data Generation: Create test data for different scenarios. Exploratory Testing: Freestyle testing to find issues.

I agree and make sure to bring process to make deliveries before expected time lines and with best quality. Prefer to have business instead of just project knowledge.

In all of my projects, for the first, I have described it in one sentence - "You must always be sure, that you do not deliver the sh*t". For sure, then you build quality gates and acceptance criteria, but the main idea always stays with everybody from a company.

Quality planning is crucial in various aspects of business and project management, as it lays the foundation for achieving and maintaining high standards.Below are the tools which i use for Quality Planning . 1- SWOT Analysis 2-Benchmarking 3-Quality Function Development 4-FEMA 5-Control Chart 6-Flow Chart 7-Fishbone Diagram 8-Pareto Analysis 9-Cost of Quality Analysis 10-Checklists.

Here are 3 areas to focus on based on my experience of managing over 30 projects in 25 years. 1/ What quality looks like to your user This is about REALLY knowing it, and not what the customer says. Takes a lot of 2/ Set up efficient processes For Quality Control, Quality Assurance, and Quality Audit to measure the effectiveness of these processes. Your 'quality' of outcome depends efficiency of your processes. And it takes 'heroism' out of the equation. 3/ Continuous feedback It's SO important to identify the right stakeholders to take feedback from and put in place a process to ensure it's taken at right intervals, analyzed & used to refine your existing processes. Focus on these 3 areas and you'll have a happy customer AND team.

To ensure the quality of project deliverables the next step is to schedule quality testing activities throughout the lifecycle of the project. This involves setting quality objectives determining metrics and testing methods assigning roles and allocating necessary resources. To document and communicate these specifics effectively tools such, as a quality management plan, quality checklists, quality audit plan and quality control plan can be employed. This comprehensive planning process ensures an cohesive approach to evaluate and improve project deliverables.

One of the best practices for building useful test documentation, that really helps your company - is to write your thoughts for the first. It sounds too easy, but many people start building their test documentation by formatting it from the first line, or, for example, by writing all the fields in test-case. With such an approach you start to fixate on the process details, against focusing on the main ideas. Compared to this, when you begin by writing your thoughts in the highlights of your doc, and only after the main ideas are matched start to go to pieces - it really helps to do your business much more fill, and see much wider!

I would like to consider a cross functional team for effective quality planning process regardless of the method I use. This team must get along very well and need to be agile, open to experience and ready to face critique as well. If the team is good and willing to work out of the box, quality planning will become an enjoyable and productive process, even if its not seamless.

Performing quality assurance activities is vital for monitoring and verifying that project processes and outputs adhere to the established quality standards. By applying methods such as process analysis, benchmarking, quality audits, and reviews, you ensure that both the processes and deliverables align with the quality plan and objectives. This proactive approach helps in identifying and addressing issues early, thereby maintaining high standards and improving overall project quality.

The next step, in assessing the quality of project deliverables is to carry out quality assurance activities. These activities involve monitoring and verifying the quality of project processes and outputs. Quality assurance encompasses applying standards and methods to project activities and deliverables to ensure they align with the quality plan and objectives. Various tools such as process analysis, benchmarking, quality audits and reviews are utilized to evaluate and improve project processes and outputs. This helps ensure adherence, to practices and procedures in order to produce high quality deliverables.

Quality assurance has become a dynamic process in today's world. There is more subjectivity in service industries these days. Therefore, we need to consider room for subjectivity and how to address it. Assurance need to be viewed both as an independent unit and holistically part of the whole ecosystem. Importance should be given to the system design through consideration, deliberation, agreement if the outcome of your assurance cannot or is not expected as a binary unit.

The fourth step, in assessing the quality of project deliverables is to carry out quality control activities. This involves examining and evaluating the quality of the project deliverables. Quality control utilizes standards and metrics to ensure that the deliverables align with stakeholder expectations and requirements. Various tools, including testing, inspection, verification, validation and defect management are employed to identify and rectify any errors or defects present in the project deliverables. These activities are essential, for ensuring that high quality outcomes are delivered.

Additionally, give considerable power to the people responsible for the performance of the task of which quality is being controlled. Remember the Hawthorne studies 'human factor' is an essential element. I believe in 'quality control through empowerment'. Ex-post-evaluations are a reactive measure, we need to empower for ex-ante success.

In addition to these tools and techniques, I would strongly recommend a survey that ensures anonymity of the participants to give you honest suggestions for improvements. End User engagement exercises and feedback is very important.