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TomStokes

My name is Tom Stokes

I am called a Quality Manager at Philips Electronics in Tempe. However, my manager and I have begun discussing how this title can be changed to be more accurate. He accepts that HE is responsible for Quality. I think I may have the only manager in the world who truly gets it.

Philips is a Dutch company. For 4 years before moving to Tempe, I was in Eindhoven, The Netherlands where Philips is headquartered. As Test Technology Manager, I helped build an independent test group in a SW development organization building TV broadcast systems. The things I learned about testing, risk and project management changed my life.

On returning to the US, I recruited my Dutch manager to come to the US as an Expat. Good managers are rare. When you find a good one, you have to stick with him. We have been faced with some serious difficulties in this organization, but are winning the battles one-by-one. I look forward to sharing the experience.

I consider myself a "pioneer project manager". In order to deploy a structured process, I take project management positions and set examples for other project managers. I show that structured process really does work and create examples for the others. Slowly, we are tailoring the clumsy big-company process into something that makes sense for us - constantly questioning the basics of value.

I am a firm believer in the V-Model - that testing must be based on documented requirements. I also believe in the "defect prevention" aspects of executing early formal reviews of the requirements. While I agree with 9/10 of James Bach's writing, the concept of "Testing in the Dark" sends shivers up my back. I really do not like co-dependent behavior in any form.

While in Holland, I spent some serious time with Dorothy Graham where we developed the mantra "Testing in the Light", saying that Testers deserve to be a little stubborn by insisting that Marketing and Develop finish their job. I have some quotes in Professional Tester (a British Magazine) where Felix Redmill and I are challenging the status quo by "demanding light" for testers on dark projects.

I have the deepest respect for the authors who laid the foundations in Test, Requirements, Inspections and the People aspects of engineering. I pride myself on knowing their position on the topics. But I have been fortunate to be around people who challenge conventional thinking. Along the way, I have co-authored some enhancements to Testing, Reviews and Requirements Documentation techniques that I believe are useful.

Recently, I have been ramping up on Organizational Behavior and Business Strategy in an effort to discover why "Quality" has such a bad reputation is most organizations.

I find myself disappointed with the shallow "religious" approach taken by many of my QA colleagues. It seems that the classic "CMM approach" is clearly at odds with many organization and business realities. No wonder most "Quality Initiatives" leave both sides angry and accomplish nothing.

In the AYE conference, I am looking for confirmation of my ideas, new discussion partners and the answer to many questions I struggle with daily.

Like - Why is there a QA section in a Project Management Plan? It seems to me that the whole document - in fact, all documents - are for Quality Assurance.

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

I too believe that most quality initiatives fail because they are at odds with the organization. In my experience without changing values, just demonstrating good project management practice isn't enough. Most people in the organization will return to the old practice as soon as you are removed. The people who do get it will leave the company because what they value isn't what the organization values.

Let me share my list of the top three causes that I've seen kill quality initiatives --

1. The quality initiative isn't clearly linked to measurable business benefits so the sponsors' attention and, most importantly, energy moves to more important initiatives.
   
   
2. Management fails to strategize and execute a plan for changing the organizational reward system. If the same behavior is rewarded as before, the people keep behaving the same damn way.
   
   
3. Second level management fails to terminate the employment of first level managers who don't support the quality initiative. First level management is where the rubber is supposed to meet the road. If the rubber isn't meeting the road, it's time for a new tire.

Funny thing, all three "killers" have to do with management. That fact shouldn't be a surprise. Quality is the result of good management.

Tom, I look forward to talking with you. -SteveSmith