Software Testing - Total Quality Management

A software is developed with the only intention of being able to cater to the customer needs and while doing so utmost care is taken to ensure that quality is maintained in all respects. Total quality management(TQM) is a management technique that encourages an environment of brilliance by adopting continuous improvement techniques, involvement of the end users, dynamic employee contribution etc.

What is Software Total Quality Management?

The total quality management is focussed on comprehending and fulfilling the client needs using open communication channels and by gathering suggestions from them. By adopting the quality attributes within an organization, the total quality management tries to make all the processes more effective and efficient, improves the quality and standards of the software, and brings more end user involvement.

The total quality management always strives to enhance every existing process, it reduces wastages, and works collectively by incorporating the suggestions from the employees. It always acknowledges the efforts and contributions of the employees so that they are more involved in the decision making, and execution of the steps to improve the overall quality. Though the total quality management is mostly used in factories and manufacturing units, it can be adopted across a wide range of industries.

Objectives of Software Total Quality Management

The objectives of the software total quality management are listed below −

• The total quality management contributes mainly to the understanding and meeting the customer requirements. It collects suggestions from the customers, and takes up adequate research only with the intent of improving the quality of the software, services, and customer involvement.
• The total quality management is focussed on continuous improvement within the organization. It encourages the employees to identify areas of improvement, reduce losses, and to adopt incremental approaches to enhance the procedures, services, and software.
• The total quality management emphasizes the employee participation in all quality enhancement activities. It encourages an environment of collaboration where the employees are motivated to submit ideas of improvement, come up with decisions, and take complete charge of the quality improvement initiatives and steps.
• The total quality management makes an attempt to achieve advancements in the processes rather than on an individual or department. It continuously maps, and evaluates the workflows to improve its productivity, and consistency.
• The total quality management gathers and evaluates correct information for efficient decision making. It lists down all the facts, and figures which point to advancement areas, gauge performance, and track the movement towards quality initiatives.
• Total quality management establishes a powerful relationship with the suppliers. It works on the collaboration, mutual corporations, and open communication with the suppliers so that quality of the components, and overall value chain are maintained.
• The total quality management relies heavily on effective leadership that encourages and gives all resources for maintaining the quality goals of the organization. The leaders work as role models, establish quality roadmaps, and encourage an environment which focuses on continuous advancements and end user satisfaction.

Practices for Effective Software Total Quality Management

The practices that can be taken for the software total quality management are listed below −

• The organizations should focus more on the quality assurance activities rather than quality control. This is because the quality control does not take up any quality improvement tasks, it only discards the defective lot.
• The organizations should adopt the shift left testing approaches, and early requirement analysis. Early testing in the software development life cycle ensures faster feedback of the customers on the software.
• Any form of review should be done by pair programming technique. It gives more effective outcomes, and does not delay the overall development schedules.
• The employees should actively suggest the quality circle techniques to the management.

Process Improvement Cycle of Total Quality Management

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Total Quality Management. Weve started with describing what is software total quality management, what are the objectives of the software total quality management, and what are some of the practices that can be taken for the software total quality management. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Total Quality Management. It is wise to keep practicing what youve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.