QA in the name of quality take a stand!!

Are you working in QA? Have you felt your hair stand or a cold chill run down your spine when someone up in the management says why does QA need so much time?Do you feel down in the dumps when a senior exec says QA simply keeps filing bugs and most are non issues? Do you feel being taken for a ride when shoddy code is tossed across and you are left to struggle with multiple issues while clock is ticking and rest of the team is preoccupied with other concerns?

Relax. You are not alone. This is a story that keeps repeating across organizations and individuals who are gate keeping quality keep struggling with.

There are some tips to keep your head above waters and steer the ship of quality thru the treacherous tides of defects and maelstroms of project schedules, resource issues and such like.

First and foremost - If product does not appear to be doing right file a bug. It is important to analyze, identify the provenance of the issue and so on. But do get that defect in everyone's radar as soon as possible. Remember when in doubt file a bug!!

Next - You have the bug, but still you need to make sure the world knows about it. This is when you voice your concerns. This is where the uneasy feeling in your innards needs to show up in those project calls. Expressions such as "I am concerned, we have too many failures in so and so area”, “I am blocked we need attention here”..etc help. Ensure you have marked your defects with right level of severity in order to get people’s attention.

Follow thru to closure- You have filed that bug, made people take notice. But that is where the real work starts. Reproduction, build, test and if needed retest. All this is going to demand time and efforts from the individual who found the issue. Make sure you recognize that effort and re prioritize ongoing commitments appropriately.

Last and foremost - No matter what do not ship if you as the QA person is not happy about the quality or coverage. People may shout at you, deadline may get missed but at any cost do not give the green signal just because time is up. That said, it is always helps to give people around you a heads up if things may not happen as per earlier commitment.