If you're fortunate enough to have convinced your organization that "quality" matters at all, congratulations! That's the first step. You've probably walked right into the next pitfall, and you may or may not know it yet: when all roles are passionate about "quality", but no one agrees on what it is. Or worse, everyone agrees, but you don't realize you're all missing something. In this session, we'll expose how the use, overuse, and abuse of the word "quality" can mislead even the best-intentioned agile teams and organizations. It's not about role vs. role—no one is immune, not even people with "quality" right there in their job title. You'll learn about a specific common "quality" anti-pattern, the harm it causes, how to spot it, and how to solve it. We'll practice communication strategies that will help you understand and influence your colleagues more effectively. We all want to make our products better. It's time to stop talking about "quality" and learn to say—and more importantly, do—what we really mean.

1. “quality” (inconceivable!)
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

2. Cheryl Hammond
@bsktcase
CTO, Peak Medical Technologies
i do not think it
means what you
think it means…
“quality” and why we should stop saying it
#stopSayingQuality

3. agreements and asks
@bsktcase #Agile2016 #stopSayingQuality
Tweet your feedback and questions during and after and whenever
http://sched.co/6eeJ
Submit your feedback please please please
http://slideshare.net/bsktcase
Metrics, getKanban, and more

4. law of two feet
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

5. agenda
Intro, logistics, agreements
As you wish
Only mostly dead
Oh, you mean this gate key
Close
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolonka
ваня
миша

7. me
Cheryl Hammond
~20 years’ experience in software
development, exec leadership, and
organizational transformation
Passionate about agile, lean, and
making software delivery humane;
not afraid to look silly doing it
Fourth-generation Seattleite
Smithie and uni recruiter; traveler;
bolonka lover; genealogist; feminist
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

8. the problem
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

9. the a problem
We don’t agree on what “quality” means
Or we agree, and we’re all wrong
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

10. how to spot it@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

11. @bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

12. how to handle it@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

13. completeness
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

14. completeness
Does the system do all the things we want?
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

15. correctness
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

16. correctness
Of the things the system actually does,
however numerous or few they may be,
does it do them accurately?
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

17. bad things@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

18. completeness can hurt
Distracts/takes time away from correctness
Fails to provide needed info for test cases
Ever tried to automate completeness?
Hides too-big stories, making sizing difficult
… which has cascading effects on team cadence
Bad agile cadence creates time pressure
… guess which essential activity suffers first when that happens!
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

19. blame
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

20. testing for completeness
Failures happen when a piece of expected
functionality is missing, even if the team didn't
implement it and didn’t intend to
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

21. measuring@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

22. i do not think it measures
what you think it measures
Completeness isn’t a quality metric,
it’s a productivity metric
… which is funny considering how hard it is to find good productivity metrics
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

23. fighting it
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

24. stop saying “quality”
It’s ambiguous
No matter what you may mean by it, you can’t control how others hear it
It has baggage
You don’t know what assumptions or experiences your listener associates with it
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

25. disambiguate
Be more precise
To start, try replacing with “completeness” or “correctness”
Find synonyms
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

26. become curious
Ask others to clarify their meaning
Not confrontationally!
Try to learn your colleagues’ points of view
It also helps to know what their goals are
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

27. let’s practice not saying it!
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

28. exercise: alternatives to “quality”
Self-organize
Pairs, small groups, or on your own
5 minutes:
What do you mean by “quality”?
What does your team/org mean?
10 minutes:
Can you say it a different way?
How might that be helpful?
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

29. bonus!
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

30. cut ‘em up@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

31. quick-start story sizing
Add correctness criteria to each “acceptance
criteria” bullet point under an existing story
Now they’re their own stories!
Their former parent is now an epic
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

32. happily ever after…
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

33. is this a kissing talk?@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality

34. agreements and asks
@bsktcase #Agile2016 #stopSayingQuality
Tweet your feedback and questions during and after and whenever
http://sched.co/6eeJ
Submit your feedback please please please
http://slideshare.net/bsktcase
Metrics, getKanban, and more

35. Cheryl Hammond
@bsktcase
CTO, Peak Medical Technologies
thank you!
#stopSayingQuality

36. have fun!
@bsktcase #stopSayingQuality