Software Quality Assurance in the Real World Ann Arbor IT Zone Hi-Tech Tuesday, February 12, 2002

IT Zone Program Committee Reneé Jones, QA Team Lead Marc Tassin, Product Manager Stephanie Moore-Fuller Steven Schartz, Managing Partner

Reneé Jones, QA Team Lead Renee' Dalton-Jones graduated from Central State University in She is currently managing the software quality assurance effort with The MEDSTAT Group, focusing on test automation and implementing quality processes and procedures. Prior to joining the MEDSTAT Group, she spent 12+ years at Ford Credit Company in numerous assignments; troubleshooting hardware and software problems, developing code, certifying dealership hardware, testing software and quality assurance (QA). In addition, she has also served in the role of a consultant with various large to mid-size companies on multiple Quality Assurance projects.

Marc Tassin, Product Manager Marc Tassin is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is currently a Product Manager with Ilium Software in Ann Arbor. He has been working at Ilium for the past two years with the majority of his work focusing on Quality Assurance for their PDA software offerings. He is not only involved with the technical aspect of testing but also with the "human results" of the process once a product reaches the market.

Stephanie Moore-Fuller Stephanie Moore-Fuller has a BA in liberal arts from St. John's College and an MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. After working at Stanford as a database programmer using SPIRES, she came to Michigan and worked in the automotive industry for 9 years, first as a "release" engineer on the GM electric vehicle, then at positions at GM, Chrysler, Magna and Visteon doing safety and crashworthiness analysis. During much of this time, she was a beta tester for the products of Altair Engineering, and for the last 1.5 years, has been working in the QA group at Altair, designing and building automated and manual tests.

Steven Schwartz, Managing Partner Steve Schwartz is a Managing Partner and Co-founder of Cognitive Bionics, Inc. Steve has over 15 years of Software Engineering and Management experience, with roles in software quality at Motorola, and Applied Intelligent Systems and Electro Scientific Industries. His current role at Cognitive Bionics includes responsibility for R&D software, rapid prototyping, and single-use software for scientific research and analysis projects. Cognitive Bionics is a software and research consulting firm serving life science and high-tech companies nationwide."

SQA myths, debunked! SQA is too Hard SQA is easy SQA is all-or-nothing SQA is incremental Need special expertise Anyone can do it Costs too much Few, if any, new costs Little/No RO(Q)I RO(Q)I is significant SQA is too Soft SQA is systematic

Real-World SQA observation