Release judgment mechanism・Release judgment is made by QA-Manager or Dev.-Manager or the president

18/06/201820/10/2021Release Judgment

Is the final judge of the release the quality assurance manager, the development manager, or the president?

I introduced in the article of four mechanisms for release judgment that it is easy to understand if you divide the software release judgment into four lines . In the previous article, I explained that the release judgment is performed for the release of software for external use.

So who is responsible for deciding whether or not to release it? Is it better for the quality assurance manager to judge because it is related to the quality of the software ? Is it better to have a development manager who understands the contents of the software well ? Is the president good because the quality of the software is guaranteed by the company ? There are several ways of thinking, but in this article, I will introduce the person in charge of judgment that Father Gutara thinks.

Who can make the final decision on the release?

Since the release of software is equivalent to the shipment of hardware products, the person in charge of the quality assurance department is usually the person in charge of determining the release. The quality assurance department is responsible for the quality of all the products of the company, and in many cases, the department head has the authority and responsibility to judge whether or not the product can be shipped.　

Since software is also a product, it seems best for the head of the quality assurance department to decide whether or not to release it, but depending on the organization, this may be technically difficult.

Including such cases, as far as Father Gutara has seen and heard, there are the following three patterns of software release judges.

1. Quality Assurance Department Manager
2. Software development manager
3. Company representative (president)

It is best if the person in charge of the quality assurance department can judge the release.

From the perspective of the division of responsibilities of a general company organization, it is reasonable and most appropriate for the person in charge of the quality assurance department to judge the release of software if possible.

In the quality assurance department, there is a department in charge of software quality assurance , and it seems that the best condition is that the person in charge of that department becomes the person in charge of determining the release. If the shipment approval of the hardware and the release of the software are done by different departments, I think this will happen.

The person in charge of the software quality assurance department will check the quality of the software from the viewpoint described in this article and decide whether or not to release it according to the result.

Even if the department in charge of software quality assurance does not exist independently , if there is a person in charge of software quality in the quality assurance department, from the perspective described in this article Since confirmation is possible, it can be taken as the person in charge making a release decision in the form that the person in charge of the quality assurance department approves the result confirmed by the person in charge.

The next best thing is the person in charge of the software development department

If it is difficult for the person in charge of the quality assurance department to judge whether the quality of the software is good or bad and it is not possible to judge whether or not the software can be released, there is no choice but to make a release judgment by the person in charge of the software development department. I have.

Since I am in charge of the software development department, I think that I have knowledge about software quality as described in this article , so there is no need to worry about the technical aspect of release judgment. However, the middle of a third party start-specific release decision in the sense that, when compared to the person responsible for quality assurance department, is inappropriate as a little stand.

The Quality Assurance Department is an indirect department that generally does not directly touch the design and manufacture of products. Therefore, we are not directly responsible for the shipment and sales of the product, so we can judge the product as neutral as a third party. More specifically, the quality assurance department is not responsible for product sales or profits. The quality assurance department is the department that is solely responsible for the quality of the product. Therefore , it is possible to make a relatively calm decision to suspend shipping, which affects sales and profits .

However, the situation is a little different for the person in charge of the development department. The person in charge of the development department is directly responsible for the cost planning that is directly linked to the sales plan and profit plan that follow the development plan . Therefore, the person in charge of the development department is in a position to manage to release the finished software on schedule . It is unavoidable that it is a little difficult to ask a person in such a position to make a third-party neutral judgment.

However, if the quality department does not have a software quality judgment function, the development department who is familiar with the software has no choice but to judge whether or not it can be released, so the person in charge of the development department should take a precautionary measure. There are quite a few organizations that make release decisions.

The last measure is the president’s decision

If there is a development department, the person in charge of that department will decide the release, but what should I do if there is no development department ? Do you ever release software even though you don’t have a software development department in-house? The question may come up.　

However, when software development is outsourced, or when OEM development or ODM development is outsourced to a contractor including software, there is no internal development department, but the product is software. Is listed and it may be necessary to judge the release of the software .

In such a case, the quality department may not have the software quality judgment function, and the software development department may not be available. In such a case, there is no choice but to ask the president to make a release decision. If your company is large and has a divisional system, you may be the division manager instead of the president. In any case, the person in charge of the department located one above the quality assurance department or the development department will judge the release of the software.

Why is it difficult to judge in the quality department?

It is best for the person in charge of the quality assurance department to determine the release of software, but it is often difficult for the quality assurance department to make the determination . I wonder why?

The Quality Assurance Department usually has the job of guaranteeing the manufacturing quality of mass-produced products in factories . It is the general job of the Quality Assurance Department to guarantee the manufacturing quality required to mass-produce good products with the same quality on the factory production line. To that end, we check the quality of purchased products, check the quality of manufacturing on the production line, check the quality of inspection, and guarantee the quality of products through those activities. Various methods for that purpose have been devised for a long time.

However, as described in this article , the quality of one-of-a-kind software can hardly be used to guarantee the quality of mass-produced products in factories. Therefore, in order to check the quality of software, it is necessary to judge the quality from a different perspective and method from the mass production of products in factories .　

This article describes the specific method for checking the quality when the software is released . However, in the case of the Quality Assurance Department, whose business is to guarantee the manufacturing quality of mass-produced products in general factories, the quality judgment method described in this article may be inexperienced and difficult to judge.

Now that the person in charge of determining the release has been organized, how will the release be determined next? Let’s think about how to judge the release.