Code Europe conference: Quality shifted left with the cognitive approach

Let's shift left the quality with cognitive approach to software development life cycle!
When or where the quality starts in your opinion? How do you perceive your code before you write a line of code?

I invite you for a walk with cognitive approach to software development.
During the talk I will share my approach to quality assurance that allows me and my team to shift left and maximize our effectiveness.

Maybe you would say it is a quality evangelism, but in fact it is just the mindset that makes all the meetings and tasks sensible again.

Meet cognitive science heuristics, tips & tricks that rescue us from the daily mess.

Source: https://www.codeeurope.pl/en/schedule?city=poznan#t-poznan-quality-shifted-left-with-the-cognitive-approach-3590

Transcript

1. Quality shifted left with
   the cognitive approach
   Aleksandra Kornecka OLX Group
   

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2. whoami?
   2
   ● Software Quality Assurance Engineer
   ● MSc. in Cognitive Science
   ● sprinter
   

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3. Agenda
   1. Decoding the title :-)
   2. Quality in SDLC.
   3. Shift left approach.
   4. Cognitive approach.
   5. Case study: anti-pattern & success story.
   6. Tools, tips & tricks.
   7. Summary.
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4. Quality in Software
   Development Life Cycle
   The true story
   

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5. Software quality stands for:
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   ● technical & business values
   ● dimensions like functionality, reliability, usability, measurability,
   maintainability, -other abilities
   ● standards like ISO, IEEE, GDPR (...)
   

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6. Quality factors
   ● We craft the software.
   ● We own the process of developing the software.
   ● We take responsibility for the process and its product - software.
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7. Quality factors
   ● We craft the software.
   ● We owe the process of developing the software.
   ● We take responsibility for the process and its product - software.
   DO WE?!
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9. Where the quality starts for you?
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10. Where the quality starts for you?
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11. The quality never starts and never ends
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12. We should care on every stage
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13. Shift left approach
    explained
    

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14. “Shift left” is a buzz word, but ...
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15. ..but the stats shows some benefits
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16. 16
    Enable awareness & attention early
    

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17. Suggested interpretation of “shift left”
    Shift left = integrate quality assurance and testing with
    development.
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18. Shift left factors
    1. Failing early (TDD, requirements validation, big picture scoping).
    2. Development driven by gathered insights and data.
    3. Comparing synchronically (A/B testing, users insights).
    4. No sanctuary code, refactor on daily basis.
    5. Automation as business value.
    6. Automated monitoring and alerting.
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19. Cognitive approach
    explained
    

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20. Cognitive approach manifesto
    ● Developers, testers, QAs, business stakeholders, end-users are
    humans.
    ● Humans have some perceptual limitations we should mind when
    developing software for humans.
    ● There are cultural differences between human using software.
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21. Cognitive means:
    ● considering human mind and brain
    ● considering processes of seeing and feeling
    ● adaptable to haptic (tactile) and visual interfaces
    ● accessible to human perception
    ● usable by human beings
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22. Perceptual limitations
    We err. We miss things. We are humans.
    We need awareness and support in
    software to cope with our limitations.
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23. Cognitive science theories
    useful in software development
    

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24. Marr theory: brain constructs the view step
    by step, with attention gap
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25. Gestalt: mind hunts the schemas
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26. Gibson affordances: mind hunts the
    possibilities
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27. Anti-pattern case study
    

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28. “Party” company case: never ending
    business request
    - One advertisement feature developed by 3 teams
    - Requirements verification in the very end of development
    - Unwanted feature from developer invention due to lack of business
    communication
    - 2 days of delay for 7 days marketing campaign
    Lesson learned: communicate with business teams, create common
    calendar, update each other, squash branches
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29. Success story case study
    

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30. “Pirate company” case: migrating to serverless
    - After lessons learned the recovery plan, checklists, backup scenario
    - Management supporting the migration team
    - Active email and chat communication to organization
    - Pair-programming to teach the new technology stack
    Good practice: learn by experience, create basic checklists, communicate
    with business stakeholders not only tech team
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31. Tools, tips & tricks
    for daily use
    

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32. Heuristics when designing
    - recognition rather than recall:
    agree for coherent symbols,
    software vocabulary
    - visibility of system status: apply
    error handling, support user and
    each other with current state up to
    real conditions
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33. Definition of Ready, Definition of Done
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34. 5 why analysis for prevention
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35. Information workflows
    ● knowledge base (not too formal, not too informal like oral only)
    ● communicate efficiently - email+chat+oral when needed
    ● share experience in short, even 30-minutes meetings
    ● write and read incident reports
    ● apply health-checks on releases (CI, versioning)
    ● apply real-time monitoring (e.g. New Relic, Sentry, Fabric)
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36. Summary
    

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37. Benefits of quality shifted left in SDLC with
    cognitive approach
    1. Reducing failures and costs in production.
    2. Increasing confidence to own work and product.
    3. Making the development team and end-users satisfied again.
    4. Empowering the teamwork between developers, testers and others.
    5. Stakeholders feeling more control over development.
    6. Increasing human trust and software quality.
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38. Key values to take away
    1. Focus at the beginning to avoid surprises at the end.
    2. You contribute to the quality, no matter what role you play.
    3. You build quality in every stage and activity.
    4. Consider humanity as a fact, not an excuse.
    5. Better to communicate too much than too little.
    6. Act like the owner, not the servant.
    7. Information is a king, but teamwork saves the world.
    Presentation sources: https://goo.gl/7wmqr4
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39. Thank you for attention!
    aleksandrakornecka.com
    girlswhotest.pl
    joinOLX.com
    

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