Inspection and Test Process Integration Based on Explicit Test Prioritization Strategies

Today's software quality assurance techniques are often applied in isolation. Consequently, synergies resulting from systematically integrating different quality assurance activities are often not exploited. Such combinations promise benefits, such as a reduction in quality assurance effort or higher defect detection rates. The integration of inspection and testing, for instance, can be used to guide testing activities. For example, testing activities can be focused on defect-prone parts based upon inspection results. Existing approaches for predicting defect-prone parts do not make systematic use of the results from inspections. This article gives an overview of an integrated inspection and testing approach, and presents a preliminary case study aiming at verifying a study design for evaluating the approach. First results from this preliminary case study indicate that synergies resulting from the integration of inspection and testing might exist, and show a trend that testing activities could be guided based on inspection results.Comment: 12 pages. The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-27213-4_1

Institutional work of quality in higher education : a study of cross-border joint programmes

The dissertation explores the dynamics of quality-related developments in transnational higher education. The aim is to develop an enhanced understanding of the relational and situated nature of higher education (HE) quality and its practices by examining how quality in cross-border collaborative arrangements, such as joint programmes (JPs), is constructed, enacted, and with what institutional outcomes. Through the focus on praxis (Jun, 1998), i.e. critical, conscious and socially purposive actions of individual and collective actors, I illuminate the role of agency in advancing and/or maintaining a particular approach to dealing with the issue of quality in HE. A theoretical framework for this study is drawn from the current strand of scholarship in Institutional Work (IW) (Lawrence et al., 2008, 2011). The IW perspective builds on the tenets of institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991; Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Scott, 2008b) and the sociology of practice (Bourdieu 1977; 1993; de Certeau 1994; Giddens 1984; Lave and Wenger 1991). Specifically, it shifts the attention from structures and the view of linear institutional change and maintenance, primarily driven by field-level institutional pressures to the recursive relationship of agency and institutions, and, in particular to the actors’ agency, their daily interactions and actions. Joint programme developments, the emergence of its quality discourse and practice are analyzed through the lenses of narrative discourse of inquiry into social experience. A multi-level (Jepperson and Meyer, 2011) study is carried out based on a combination of research methods and data sources. Synthesis of available literature and document analysis have been undertaken to trace major developments of JPs and their quality at a macro level. To study organizational and daily work setting, a single, real-time, qualitative case with embedded units (Stake, 1995) spread across five institutions in multiple countries has been conducted. Twenty- one semi-structured interviews with selected JP staff members were complemented with observational field notes and (inter)organizational documentary data about the JP and its quality-related activities. Combining the analysis of data drawn from multiple levels (Jepperson and Meyer, 2011) enabled the study of idiosyncratic professional activities embedded in the environment of institutional complexity. Attention has been paid to the interplay among actors’ intentions regarding JPs and their quality-driven activities, actions taken and expected outcomes. This research offers an empirical account on how IW is accomplished in transnational HE. JPs and their quality practice in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) are found to be a multi-actor, multi-layered, and multi-purpose phenomenon. Due to the multi-layered nature of the phenomenon, the praxis of JP quality is relational. It is an interaction of processes, events and activities taking place in policy (macro level), among and within HE institutions (meso level), and through daily work (micro level). The findings of this study indicate that activities taking place at those levels reinforce each other in the IW of co-creating and maintaining the institutionalized practice of JPs and their quality. The study finds that JPs and their quality practice is constructed by key higher education stakeholders and their intermediary organizations and enacted via inter-organizational arrangements of JP provider institutions and their everyday work. The IW involves a combination of policy work, establishment of networks and associations as well as development of normative frameworks which to a large extent are grounded in organizational ‘best practices’. Quality of JPs is conceptualized as ‘high’, having added value, whereas JP quality practice is tied to the concept of fitness-for-purpose and features a holistic and continuous process of quality assurance that includes assessment, evaluation and enhancement-driven activities. This dominant approach to quality promoted at a macro level is adopted in (inter)organizational and everyday work situations with some variations and specificities. The following key strategies were found to aid organizational adaptation of JP practice: ‘embracing differences’, ‘learning and support from peers’, and ‘developing a shared understanding’. The contributions of this study are the following. First, the study provides a thorough review of JP developments in the EHEA. Second, a ‘new’ lens of IW is applied to the ‘old’ issue of quality in HE in order to contribute to the ongoing debate of quality and its outcomes on teaching and learning in HE. Third, it contributes to the current scholarly debate on the role of agency in IW through the focus on praxis, situated organizing, and the constitutive nature of praxis and institutional logics. Fourth, a case study with units crossing national and organizational boundaries provided an opportunity to study the inter-organizational collaborative setting, which has not been a common research avenue in IW studies

Continual improvement: A bibliography with indexes, 1992-1993

This bibliography lists 606 references to reports and journal articles entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database during 1992 to 1993. Topics cover the philosophy and history of Continual Improvement (CI), basic approaches and strategies for implementation, and lessons learned from public and private sector models. Entries are arranged according to the following categories: Leadership for Quality, Information and Analysis, Strategic Planning for CI, Human Resources Utilization, Management of Process Quality, Supplier Quality, Assessing Results, Customer Focus and Satisfaction, TQM Tools and Philosophies, and Applications. Indexes include subject, personal author, corporate source, contract number, report number, and accession number

Organisational quality & organisational change : interconnecting paths to effectiveness

Invited Speech, Theme 2 - Quality EnhancementVersion of RecordPublishe

Improving Practices in a Small Software Firm: An Ambidextrous Perspective

Despite documented best practices and specialized tools, software organizations struggle to deliver quality software that is on time, within budget, and meets customer requirements. Managers seeking improved software project outcomes face two dominant software paradigms which differ in their emphasis on upfront planning, customer collaboration, and product documentation: plan-driven and agile. Rather than promoting one approach over the other, this research advocates improving software management practices by developing the organization’s ambidextrous capability. Ambidextrous organizations have the ability to simultaneously succeed at two seemingly contradictory capabilities (e.g. discipline and agility) which leads to enhanced organizational performance. Overall, this study asks the question: How can an ambidextrous perspective facilitate improvement in software practices? Driven by this question, and based on a two year action research study at a small software firm, TelSoft, the objectives of this research are to: 1. Identify dualities involved in improving software practices 2. Design interventions based on these dualities to improve software practices 3. Explore the process of becoming an ambidextrous software organization The resulting dissertation consists of a summary and four papers that each identify and address particular dualities encountered during software process improvement. The first paper asserts that both process-driven and perception-driven inquiry should be used during assessment of software practices, presents a model that shows how this combination can occur, and demonstrates the use of this model at TelSoft. The second paper explicates two theories for understanding and resolving issues in requirements engineering practice – repeat-ability and response-ability – and argues for the need to negotiate between the two. The third paper identifies a tension between managing legacy and current processes and proposes a model for software process reengineering, a systematic process for leveraging legacy processes created during prior SPI efforts. Finally, the fourth paper applies the theoretical lens of ambidexterity to understand the overall change initiative in terms of the tension between alignment and adaptability. The study used a variety of data sources to diagnose software practices, including semi-structured interviews, software process documents, meeting interactions, and workshop discussions. Subsequently, we established, facilitated, and tracked focused improvement teams in the areas of customer relations, requirements management, quality assurance, project portfolio management, and process management. Furthermore, we created and trained two management teams with responsibility for ongoing management of SPI and project portfolio management respectively. We argue that these activities improved software practices at TelSoft and provided a stronger foundation for continuous improvement. Keywords: Ambidexterity, software process improvement (SPI), action research, requirements engineering assessment, action planning, software process reengineering, software management