© Craig McDonald 2005 UC QA – The Key to Taking Responsibility Being Responsible for your action (or inaction) knowing who will be affected by your action

© Craig McDonald 2005 UC

QA – The Key to Taking Responsibility

Being Responsible for your action (or inaction) knowing who will be affected by your actionknowing the affects caring about themaccepting praise or blame being accountable

Can a responsible action be unethical ?Can a non-human be responsible ?

a UC committee, a government

The Stakeholder vs the Shareholder view


1. The Gardenerholding the garden stake that can really do you damage - the client

2. The Gamblerat the table, chips on the felt, knows the game - investors, unions

3. The Victim

impacted, but not an actor - customer, employees & their families

4. Gaia

ecological, societal, governmental and economic systems

Responsibility: recognising stakeholders


To have responsibility for an action (or not taking an action) in somesituation, a person needs to have an element of:

1. Voluntariness - responsibility is diminished for an action that is a completely involuntary

2. autonomy - the person needs to have some capacity to choose between alternative actions

3. foresight - responsibility is reduced if its effect simply could not be foreseen

and there needs to be a

4. causal influence between the action and the effect.

(Bittner & Hornecker).

Limits on Responsibility


Complex organisations & large systems diffuse and disguise responsibility:

difficult for one person to take responsibility as effects emerge from a mix of actions and interactions that can't be

attributed to a single person.

Technology and the division of labour in systems developments means that responsibility for certain

components may be clear, but liability for the whole is less clear.

Impediments to Responsibility


Ethics and a Basis for QA in Projects

Being

responsible for the

impact the

system has on all

stakeholders


The Product – Process Model

Development

task

productDocuments:(Case Level)

spec

staff knowledge - attitudes policy / procedures / standards history (precedents) Tools & Techniques

Task Resources:

Task Management: time, scope, cost,

plan reviewmonitor

•organization / power structures• responsibility / authority

Task Context:

Quality

Who’s it for?What do they do with it?Who is Impacted ?

1 2 3

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS – Project Management Support System

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS – Configuration Management

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS – QA part of Document Template

6. Quality Assurance This section specified the quality assurance for this document

6.1 Process of Document Development

This document was constructed froma review of text books & meetings with the clientcomparing with other systems users manual content

6.2 TraceabilityOther documents that are related to this is the users manual. As they are both manuals, they both share the same target. To guide the user with using your system.

6.3 Verification

This document was tested against other owners manual.

All the stakeholders Even though the contents are different for each system, they both share the same meaning. 6.4 References

Schwalbe K (2004) Information Technology Project Management Thomson Learning

6.5 Document History

1. OWNER’S MANUAL INTRODUCTION 32. Measuring Systems Performance 43. Cost - Benefit Measurement 64. Risk Management 75. Audit, Legal and other Compliance Issues 86. Quality Assurance 9

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS - Meetings Supporting

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS - Issues Management

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCPMSS – Configuration Management

Stakeholders:

Project team

Re-developersbusiness owner

user

system manager

line manager

© Craig McDonald 2005 UCProject Evaluation

Product

System Owner: Various Operational users: Line Manager: External Stakeholder Next Developer: Systems Management Auditor:

Process

Evidence of : Project Planning, Modification

& Review Team Management Information & configuration management Quality Process Risk prevention, detection, correction

Reflection Individual, Peer Review client reviews

Tutor’s Review Innovation, creativity


The Principles & Practice of

Building QA into the

Teaching & Assessment of

Student Computer Systems Development Projects