The Most Important Metric of Quality; Time

Samet Ozkan
Insider Engineering
5 min readMar 14, 2022

Today, the expectation of quality products and effective after-sales support in software processes is constantly increasing. The main reason for this is related to all 7 basic testing principles determined by ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) . However, we can interpret that it has a stronger connection with the item ‘Testing should start at the beginning of the software development process’ [1]. This principle explains the importance of early testing.What does this principle provide to SDCL (software development life cycle) ? We can explain the principle ; ‘ Detecting software bugs in the early phases is critical as it significantly reduces the costs of resolving them. For this reason, it is very important to start testing activities in the early phases of software projects (e.g. planning, analysis, design) and to involve test teams early in the project processes.’ [2]

At the same time, this highlights the importance of creating quality products to software developers and testers. At this point, it is useful to remember again what the concept of quality is. The most basic definition of quality is superior quality. Within the software life cycle, it is possible to interpret this concept as the delivery of the desired product at the right time, at the appropriate level in terms of performance and functionality, which can meet customer/partner expectations. In this article, we will talk about time, which is the biggest provider of the concept of quality, and we will focus on ideas on how this metric can be brought it to the expected points.

Let’s talk about the Scope Triangle.The triangle illustrates the relationship between three primary forces in a project. Time is the available time to deliver the project, cost represents the amount of money or resources available and quality represents the fit-to-purpose that the project must achieve to be a success.’ [3]The main reason for this is to provide software as a service. Because when service is received, the most important expectation is time or speed.

Imagine ordering a meal from an “Online Food Service Provider App”. Speed and service will come to the fore among the quality criteria. The main reason for this is that users want their expectations to come true very quickly. As Insider, we take care as much as possible to ensure quality and testing processes at international standards. Especially in our Partner Support Development team, we work in detail to ensure that partner expectations are met at the desired levels.In this article, we will talk about temporal metrics that can provide partner expectations at a positive point and closely affect the perception of quality.

The most important one of these metrics is CLT (Customer Lead Time). CLT is briefly the period from the moment the partner requests are opened in Jira (or other task management tools) until those requests are delivered to the partner.

If we start from the example of a hamburger we ordered, the time from the moment we pass the order until the order reaches us is called CLT.As the Insider Partner Support Development Team, it is very important to reach our goal here. One of our main goals is to deliver the expected tasks to our partners below our target time.

In order for us to bring the CLT to the desired levels, it is important in other metrics that we subdivide and set appropriate targets for each. Backlog Lead Time is especially important. Backlog time defines the time a task is ready to start development but still pending.

The most important way to bring this time to the desired levels is to act with a working culture with an Agile perspective. The effective and fast communication project management processes of team leaders and kanban/scrum masters will improve this metric.

SLT (System Lead Time), on the other hand, is Lead Time, which includes only the technical teams in the software development process, such as Development In Progress, Code Review or QA statuses. In Agile Software Development Models, it is important to implement the following stages effectively and efficiently in order to bring these processes to the optimum level.

1) Planning
2)Analysis
3)Design
4)Implementation
5)Maintenance

Improving the statuses stated above is necessary for Agile Software Development processes. These improvements will also improve the time concepts for quality mentioned in the first chapter.

In this article, we talked about time, which is one of the most important building blocks of the concept of Quality. In summary, one of the most important user expectations is the delivery time. Ensuring user expectations means the same as quality. For this reason, we talked about Lead Times, which are important in Software Development and Agile Software Development processes. We explained the importance of this concept according to ISTQB and listed its examples. Consequently, temporal targets are essential for quality. Therefore, perceiving expectations well and setting targets in this direction will increase quality.

I hope you enjoyed the time you spend on reading my article.
Thank you!

References
[1] ISTQB — Foundation Level Syllabus Version 2018 V3.1
[2] ISTQB — Foundation Level Syllabus Version 2018 V3.1
[3]https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/best-practice/project-management-scope-triangle.php&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1641804382514520&usg=AOvVaw30_0zNaHEmQFuyqlabs9ZC

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