For our first discussion group meeting of the new year, we've planned a (hopefully) facilitated discussion on practical ethics for software practitioners. Why practical? Well, although we probably all consider ourselves to be ethical professionals, do we conciously consider ethics in our everyday work? Are the "Codes of Ethics" that we all know and love something that are part of our decision making process? For that matter, how many of us have taken the time to analyze the "Codes" that have been painstakingly put together by ACM, IEEE, ASQ and CIPS? I think we might be surprised about the kinds of day-to-day things that fall into the realm of "ethical" decisions and that are covered by the "Codes of Ethics". For example, does Clause 1.7 of the ACM Code of Ethics -- Respect the privacy of others -- have any bearing on the software you're developing that will allow your client to monitor their employees e-mail? Does your using a design from a published paper to implement a solution for your company contravene Clause 1.5 about honouring property rights including copyrights and patent? So, when was the last time you wrote to the author to get express, written consent to use their algorithm in your work? Gee, really good questions! Let's talk about it!

This session of the discussion group will be an introductory level presentation and discussion on Software Quality Management. Our facilitator for the evening will be Fiona Koether, CSQE, CQM, of Nortel Networks.

The topic of Software Quality Management comprises:

1. Planning
   • Product and project software quality goals and objectives
   • Customer requirements for quality
   • Quality and customer support activities
   • Issues related to software security, safety, and hazard analysis
2. Tracking
   • Scope and objectives of quality information systems
   • Categories of quality data and their uses
   • Problem reporting and corrective action procedures (e.g., software defects, process nonconformances)
   • Techniques for implementing information systems to track quality-related data
   • Records and data collection, storage, maintenance, and retention
3. Organizational and Professional Software Quality Training
   • Quality training subject areas (e.g., inspection, testing, configuration management, project management)
   • Available training resources, materials, and providers
   • Professional societies, technical associations, and organizations for software quality engineers

October 11th is our first Popcorn and a Movie night that we've planned for this season. This was a huge success last year and we're looking for a double reprise this season. Our presentation for the 11th is 21 "Rules of Thumb" by James McCarthy.

This is a must see (1.5 hour) video for anyone willing to gain lots of insight regarding how a design community can ship great software, ship it on time, and teach people how to do it. Expect to laugh a lot. Expect many improvement ideas worth considering.

After the video, you will remember things like:

• "don't flip the bozo bit"
• "don't shake the jello"
• "don't go dark"
• "design the product to ship on time"
  (you will get a few ideas on how to do this)

You will also hear things like lucid ignorance and reality induction. This video is a bit MicroSoft-ish. Don't let that stop you from coming -- there is a lot in this video that many of you will identify with.

This session is an introductory level presentation and discussion on Software Processes. Our facilitator for the evening will be Bob Satnik, GE Harris Energy Control Systems, Canada Inc.

The topic of Software Processes, as described by the ASQ CSQE Body of Knowledge, comprises:

1. Life Cycle Models (Definition, Development and Maintenance Phases)
   • Current Standards for the Life Cycle Models
2. Software Engineering Paradigms (Development Methods)
   • Waterfall, Prototyping, Spiral and OO
3. Defect Prevention Methods
   • Documentation Standards, Cleanroom and Defect Prevention
   • Formal Reviews
4. Various Techniques
   • Requirement Analysis, QFD, Structured Analysis, Entity Relationships
   • Warnier-Orr (DSSD), Jackson System development, UML
   • Maintenance Approaches
5. Process and Technology Change Management
   • Process Frameworks (CMMs)
   • Assessments
6. Barriers to Quality Improvements

This weeks session is a "Best Practices" presentation on Software Processes for Small Organizations and Projects. Our presentor for the evening will be Marielle Chevrier of Tantara Inc.

Both small and large software organizations can benefit from predictable processes. Software process definition/improvement is often mistakenly perceived as applicable to only large organizations with large-scale projects. Current publications rarely focus on the unique aspects of small software projects and small organizations.

This presentation will separate myth from fact in regards to the relevance of software process definition/improvement for small software project environments and for small organizations. The session will begin by distinguishing small and large software organizations/projects -- their components, critical success factors and dilemmas. The session will then proceed to show how software processes can be applied and foster many benefits for small organizations / projects.

Our next session will be an introductory level presentation and discussion on Software Project Management. Our presenter for the evening will be Mary McGuire of BEXX Systems Inc.

The topic of Software Project Management, as described by the ASQ CSQE Body of Knowledge, comprises:

1. Planning
   • Project planning factors (e.g., quality, costs, resources, deliverables, schedules)
   • Project planning methods and tools (e.g., work breakdown structures, documentation, forecasting, estimation)
   • Goal-setting and deployment methodologies
   • Maintenance types (e.g., corrective, adaptive, perfective)
   • Software maintenance and adaptability program planning
   • Supplier management methodologies
2. Tracking
   • Phase transitioning control techniques (e.g., reviews and audits, Gantt charts, PERT, budgets)
   • Methods of collecting cost of quality data
   • Cost of quality categories (e.g., prevention, appraisal, internal failure, external failure)
   • Cost, progress, and deliverable tracking (e.g., status reports, life cycle phase reports)
3. Implementation
   • Project management tools (e.g., planning, tracking, cost estimating, reporting)
   • Methods of reporting cost of quality data
   • Trade-offs involved in product release decisions (e.g., cost, quality, schedule, customer, test sufficiency, stability)

What a great opportunity to meet with fellow quality practitioners to partake of some fine vituals, hoist a few and talk about things, quality!

Of course, to get in to this quality affair, you have to be in possession of a little, yellow ticket. And, you may well ask, how do I get my hands on one of those itty, bitty, yellow tickets? Well, just like last year, come on out to our discussion group meetings. You get one ticket for every meeting you attend.

Oops! No more meetings! Well, not quite. You can still get tickets by attending the next CQM meeting, this Wednesday, the 29th, also at Devry. This weeks session is on project management and is presented by Janet Gregory, Quality Manger for the Consumer Business Unit, WindRiver Systems. For more information on this session contact Janet at jgregory1@home.com.

Alternatively, find someone that's been coming out to all of our sessions and see if you can piggy-back in on one of their tickets. Remember, begging is an option.

The main focus of the presentation will be "The similarities and key differences in Managing Web Application Development versus Client Server Application Development". This will include examples of the differences and ways to avoid potential issues that may arise due to the differences.

Requirements traceability remains an important concern for software developers, including management. It supports assessment of changes, provides guidance, and it is viewed as a measure of quality. Nevertheless, its adoption and consequent benefits do not produce uniform results. There are many factors influencing the effectiveness of requirements traceability: adaptability to project specific needs, integration into the development process, and support for organizational knowledge are some desirable features of tracing environments that are difficult to obtain. In this talk we discuss the reasons why it is not easy to incorporate proposed models and techniques of requirements traceability into the development process. We also present the overall design of an object-oriented library for requirements tracing and discuss how it may be used to overcome some of the above mentioned difficulties.

This presentation will share some of the initiatives & lessons learned from the process improvement program at Neles Automation: the difficulties that arise when trying to implement change, and the success factors for any process improvement initiative.

Some highlights from the trenches: the benefits and pitfalls of ISO 9001 certification change inertia in a medium-sized organization how organizational structure can hinder results

Software Inspections have been demonstrated to be extremely effective in reducing errors in the final software product. They can be applied by any size of organization and very early on in the software lifecycle. The presentation will provide an introduction to software inspections, the components of software inspections and how you might introduce software inspections into an organization.

This evenings presentation will look at the use of an easy-to-use, yet powerful tool to assist in the management of software projects. The KB(tm) is Knowledge Base Software designed to manage team oriented, task driven projects. It is a tool that has proven it's worth in the heat of development of a complex software product. The tool continues to add value to the organization, and to the maintenance and enhancement team throughout the life of the software.

The software project manager, the principal user and one of the key participants on the development team (also the developer of the software), will discuss the efficacy of the tool and the management approach that it supports, using the target development project as a case study. The latest version of the software will be demonstrated.

KB(tm) Knowledge Base Software is a creation of Doug Den Hoed, founder of Lumina Systems Deliver in Calgary, Lumina has been designing professional, custom software solutions for their clients for over ten years. Their projects are team oriented, task based ... and the scope always changes. Unable to find a suitable software package that met their needs, they developed The KB(tm) for use on their own projects over the past three years. It proved to be an invaluable tool, and an excellent method of communicating (and recalling) project-specific information. Several of their clients encouraged them to market The KB(tm) as a package software solution, having also searched for something like it, and having reaped its rewards first hand.

Presenting the view-point of the the project manager is Torry Fischer. Torry was project manager for the Corporate Well System project at Talisman Energy. The principal user and primary source of all requirements for the system, and it's interfaces, is Grace Sipes. Grace is the Corporate Well Administrator at Talisman Energy and will be representing the users point of view. Doug Den Hoed will be discuss KB(tm) both as seen as a participant in the software development, and as the developer and marketer of the product.

This presentation is an introduction to testing, covering most of the material in the CSQE primer. The presentation follows a software development project from initiation to maintenance, looking at the stages of testing, the types of testing performed at each stage, testing strategies and when they are typically used, and testing documentation.

Testing Web pages and Web applications isn't quite like testing other software products. The quality factors you have to meet are different and you don't really know your end users. There is also the issue of getting the software out in "Internet time". Developing good web software is a new area and information on how to tailor your processes effectively is scarce. This presentation will identify the major differences in testing, what challenges you can expect to meet, and what tools are appropriate. Issues about testing automation and performance testing for Web environments will be discussed.

The Software Audit section of the ASQ Software Quality Body of Knowledge will be reviewed and discussed. The emphasis of the presentation will be on how to review the material in preparation for writing of the CSQE examination. The tips and tricks will include a handout summarizing the primer.

The ASQ Software Quality Body of Knowledge for Software Audits comprises:

1. Audit Types
   • Performing internal audits (e.g., quality system, product, process, project, customer)
   • Performing external audits (e.g., supplier qualifications, certification of supplier systems, auditing testing done by independent agencies)
   • Functional and physical configuration audits
2. Audit Methodology
   • Purpose, objectives, frequency, and criteria of the overall audit program and individual software audits
   • Procedures, tools, and issues related to conducting audits in specific areas (e.g., software development, project management, configuration management)
   • Audit steps (planning, preparation, execution, reporting, corrective action, verification follow-up)
   • Audit process (e.g., objectives, criteria, techniques and methods, participant roles)
3. Audit Planning
   • Audit team member responsibilities
   • Management (auditee and auditor) responsibilities concerning audits
   • Hosting external audits
   • Audit program development and administration
   • Auditing requirements (e.g., industry and government standards)

Our topic for this evenings presentation will be a consideration of the things that have to be taken into account when planning and deploying an e-commerce solution for your business. There are several quality factors that have to be taken into consideration for an e-commerce site, over and above those that govern the software and business solution itself. Performance, accessibility, security, reliability and scalability are dependent not only on the software, but the hardware, network infrastructure and systems software as well. If fact, all of the software 'ilities apply equally as well to the hard components.

We will discuss the need for Configuration Management, why it exists, what it really is, some of the philosophies, and some of the tools that are available to implement it. We will address some of the misconceptions about Configuration Management, particularly the idea that Configuration Management is just Version Control. We will define some of the key CM terms used in the various QA Standards, and discuss what they really mean and what they imply. We will also discuss some of the CM concepts that are addressed by the CSQE study guide.

• Why does Change Happen?
• The Results of Change
• Elements of a Configuration Management System
• Benefits of Software Configuration Management
• Definition of Configuration Items, Baselines and Versions
• Defining Version Control and the Release Process
• Defining the Change Control Process
  • Initiating Change
  • Assessing Impact
  • Change Control Board
  • Verifying the Software Configuration Management system
  • Status Accounting & Reporting
  • Auditing
• CSQE CM Concepts
  • Models
  • Tools
  • Sample CM Process

This is our annual planning session where organizers, volunteers and participants, active or otherwise, get a chance to make their mark on next years sessions. Everything is up for discussion. Bring your ideas and suggestions to make this an even better discussion group next year.