SWEBOK categorizes software quality considerations which transcend the software lifecycle processes. SWEBOK decomposes the software quality knowledge area into fundamentals, software quality management processes, and practical considerations.
Inspections (9)
- A Software Inspection is a formal review of a work product by the work product owner and a team of peers looking for errors, omissions, inconsistencies, and areas of confusion in the work product. A formal inspection is performed according to established procedures and schedules. A typical inspection includes the following stages: Planning, Overview Meeting (Kickoff), Preparation, Inspection Meeting, Rework, and Follow-up. A formal inspection has well-defined roles for participants, such as moderator, recorder, reader, author, and inspector.
See also DACS Gold Practice href="https://www.goldpractices.com/practices/fi/index.php">Formal Inspections.
Risk Management (8)
- Software Risk Management is a proactive approach for minimizing the uncertainty and potential loss associated with a project by providing insights to support informed decision making. It is performed continually over the life of a program, from initiation to retirement. Some categories of risk include product size, business impact, customer-related, process, technology, development environment, staffing (size and experience), schedule, and cost.
Six Sigma (6)
- Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service. While its roots are in manufacturing, it is also applicable to software initiatives.
Software Reliability (10)
- Software Reliability is the application of statistical techniques to data collected during system development and operation to specify, predict, estimate, and assess the reliability of software-based systems. "Software Reliability Engineering (SRE) is a standard, proven best practice that makes testing more reliable, faster, and cheaper. It can be applied to any system using software and to frequently-used members of software component libraries."
Statistical Process Control (SPC) (5)
- SPC is about using control charts to manage software development efforts, in order to effect software process improvement. The practitioner of SPC tracks the variability of the process to be controlled. When that variability exceeds the range to be expected from natural causes, one then identifies and corrects assignable causes.
Verification and Validation (10)
- Verification and Validation (V&V) is a series of technical and managerial activities performed by someone other than the developer of a system to improve the quality and reliability of the system and assure the developed product satisfies the user's operational needs. Verification is the assurance that the products of a particular development phase are consistent with the requirements of that phase and preceding phase(s), while validation is the assurance that the final product meets system requirements. V&V can be performed by an outside agency, which is referred to as Independent V&V, or IV&V, or by a group within the organization but not the developer, referred to as Internal V&V. Use of V&V often accompanies testing, can improve quality assurance, and can reduce risk.
DACS Gold Practice Initiative
