Release judgment criteria・Also check the implementation status of the gate process

04/12/202020/10/2021Release Judgment

At the end of the development process, check the implementation status of the gate process

This article 　introduces the implementation status of the gate process out of the seven items that Father Gutara checked to judge the process quality in the release judgment . The other 6 items (development planning, software design, implementation test planning, pending and risk management, baseline management, maintenance system and maintenance contract) will be introduced in the previous and subsequent articles. Please have a look there.

7. Implementation status of the gate process

The gate process is a process that is required to be approved for implementation and completion by internal rules among various processes that are carried out from software development to maintenance after shipment . In other words, it is a process that has a restriction that you cannot proceed to the next development process unless it is approved that the process has been completed.

In an easy-to-understand example, release determination is a gate process . The final approval of whether the finished software can be released to the market is a gate process because it is essential that the person responsible for the quality of the software is the final judge according to the rules of the organization.

The gate process is more important as the software is invisible

It sounds like a matter of course, but the software is invisible and can be easily distributed via the Internet . In an organization where the development process of release judgment is not well established, it is possible that the software tested in the development department will be released to the market without knowing who approved it .

If this is hardware, in order to officially ship it and deliver it to the end user, it is necessary to pack it, clarify the address and recipient of the destination, and hand over the item to the transportation industry difference, and various things Since the work to be requested to the department will occur, some kind of check will work at that point .　

However, software, especially in the case of upgraded versions of software for products already on the market, will be delivered to the end user just by uploading the software at hand to the Internet by the person in charge of development.　

Checking is also difficult because it is much easier than hardware and does not require work requests to other departments within the company . This is an extreme example, but for invisible software, we have created a mechanism to clearly define the gate process and release it while confirming that the process is being carried out steadily one by one. Must be kept.

Which process should be the gate process depends largely on what kind of development process is adopted, so it cannot be said unconditionally, but for example, when adopting a waterfall type development process, it is as follows. Process is a candidate for the gate process.

(1) Confirmation of required specifications: Confirm the specifications together with related departments through official reviews of the required specifications.

(2) Development plan planning : Check whether the plan created by the development team is highly feasible without any omissions or omissions.

(3) Product architecture design : Confirm the division of roles between hardware and software and future expandability

④ Basic software design : Check the basic software and the software structure built on it.

⑤ Test design : Check if the test is planned to guarantee the quality required by the market.

⑥ Conducting the test : Confirm that the test result meets the quality required for the product.

⑦ Release judgment : Check if the software has quality even if it is provided to the market.

⑧ Start maintenance : Confirm that the maintenance service will start at the same time as the software is released.

Watch carefully for product quality if there is a problem with process quality

It’s been a long explanation, but at the time of release decision, I checked whether the following seven important management processes explained so far were properly implemented.　

By the way, it would be nice if I could check the process and there were no problems, but what happened when there was a problem ? In conclusion, when there was a problem with the process quality, I checked the product quality with particular care and approved the release if there was no problem with the product quality .

The important thing about software quality is the product quality itself. Process quality is a means to achieve good product quality. Therefore, even if there is some problem with the process quality, if there is no problem with the product quality, it is judged that there is no problem even if it is released.

Process quality is good to always achieve good product quality

So, why had to check the process quality do you? ?? ??　If the process quality is good , software development will proceed in a constantly controlled situation, that is, in a situation where there are few delays in delivery and quality deterioration . As a result, there is a high possibility that software with good product quality will be created.

On the other hand, poor process quality increases the risk of delays in delivery and quality degradation due to poor development control . In short, the delivery date and quality will vary greatly. So, at one point, software with good duct quality is created, but at another time, software with poor product quality is created.

This is not very good, so I also monitored the process quality and instructed to improve the process quality as much as possible . However, as I mentioned earlier , the important thing in releasing software is product quality , so if there is no problem with product quality, it means that the release was approved.

Next is product quality

In the articles so far, I have written about four criteria for release judgment. Next, I will introduce four mechanisms for release judgment. If you are interested, please see the article about product quality below.