How to grasp the quality of software products

How to grasp the quality of software products

Cai:Cai Weidong, who loves testing, exceeded10Years of software testing and team management experience.

Zheng:Zheng Wenqiang,Alcatel-Lucent testing architect

Cai:How can we grasp the quality of software products?

Zheng:Whether software products are large or small, the structure is simple or complex, and the evaluation of their quality is not easy. Although difficult, product quality assessment is still necessary because it also involves the ability to release software versions.

Evaluate software before release

Based on my practical experience in the company, we can evaluate it from the following two aspects.

First, the quality evaluation before the release of software products. The specific metrics include:

• defects, including the general distribution trend of discovered defects and the distribution of defects in different functional modules. For example, the trend chart of the total Defect Distribution.
• the test pass rate mainly includes the planned test case execution progress, number of passed test cases, number of failed test cases, and number of blocked test cases. The test pass rate defined in our project is 95% .
• test coverage rate, including the coverage rate required by the test for the system and the coverage rate of the test type. For example, the requirement coverage rate defined in our project must reach 100% , the test coverage rate must also reach 100% .
• confidence, the testers in charge of this module are subjective about the quality. Some people may find it strange. How can subjective feelings be evaluated as product quality? Because the engineers responsible for functional module testing are the ones who know most about their testing objects.

Onlookers said:You can design a confidence index, for example1~10And then use various data to support this index.

Evaluate software release

Second, quality evaluation after software product release. The measurement we currently use is the defect detection percentage.DDP(Defect detected percentage). The formula is as follows:

Number of defects discovered at the customer's site/(Number of defects detected by the test team before release +
Number of defects discovered at the customer's site)* 100%

After the product is released6Number of defects detected at the customer's site within one month. Different companies and projects use different statistical time ranges.

Onlookers said:Measure customer-discoveredBugIt makes sense. First, you can analyze the customer accordingly, for example, frequently used functions and satisfaction. Second, you can use them to reflect on previous test activities for improvement.

The test team provides quality information for software release

Another question is that the test team is very concerned about: who decides the release of software products? From my perspective, I think it is inappropriate for the test team to decide whether to release software products.

Soft
Whether a product can be released requires members of different roles to participate in the evaluation based on the criteria defined by the company, it also balances product quality, market opportunities, product strategies, costs, and other factors. Test Group
The main role of the team in this process is to provide as much quality information and risk information of software products as possible to help the management determine whether to release the software. Any unilateral decision may be incomplete. Example
For example, testers feel that the quality is not good enough and the release is risky. However, market opportunities require us to release the product. If we wait for a while, the market opportunities may be weakened or even lost, which of the following factors should be considered at this time?
Higher priority.

Onlookers said:Agree. Software release should be considered based on various factors, not just a role.

This article is excerpted from win in testing2: Chinese software testing expert interview

Cai Weidong By

Published by Electronic Industry Publishing House