Managing software quality through a hybrid defect content and effectiveness model

Quality assurance (QA) plays a crucial role in today's software development. However, methods and models proposed in literature to support QA management suffer from several drawbacks. Many are specialized to certain activities like system test or inspections. They commonly support only one application purpose, e.g., planning or controlling, and are often applicable only after measurement data has been collected for several historical applications. To overcome these drawbacks, we developed a method that can be applied to QA activities during any phase, and which supports comprehensive quality management related tasks: improvement, planning, and controlling. To be applicable in practice, the method combines the available measurement data with expert judgment to build context-specific models. In addition, the method provides early benefits, while motivating the collection of measurement data by presenting possible improvement directions. The paper presents the general concepts behind the method and research questions to be answered in upcoming empirical studies.