ASQ Section 0511 March 2023 Meeting Announcement

Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Quality Matters Round Table: Agile and Quality

Conducted by Charlotte Wild
ASQ Section 0511 Audit Chair and Welcome Lead

Short Description:

The March 2023 ASQ Section Meeting is a Round Table Discussion within the Quality Matters Initiative launched in May 2021.

ASQ Section 0511 is a community of Quality Professionals of Northern Virginia, with tremendous cumulative experience across multiple industries, companies, and government agencies. Any single one of you in our ASQ Section is a formidable source of takes, opinions, and lessons on a number of Quality Matters.

• A Quality Matter is an aspect, focus, slice, segment of the quality landscape that one deals with in a particular situation.
• Quality Matters Round Table is a series of discussions on the Quality Matters topics noted at the May 2021 Section Meeting.
• In each such discussion, the Section Members share their experience and opinions on one such topic and network as Quality Professionals.

Previous Round Table Discussions were:

• June 2022 on the topic of "Test" moderated by Muzaffar Zaffar.
• April 2022 on the topic of "Model-based Process Improvement" moderated by Barbara McCullough.
• August 2021 on the topic of "ASQ Sections" moderated by Ken Rapuano.
• July 2021 on the topic of "Plans and Process Descriptions" moderated by Mike Coleman.
  • Its Discussion Report is posted here: http://www.asq0511.org/Presentations/202107/ASQ0511_202107_QualityMattersReport-PlansAndProcessDescriptions-Report.pdf
• June 2021 on the topic of "ASQ Certifications" moderated by Vladimir Nesterovich.
  • Its Discussion Report is posted here: http://www.asq0511.org/Presentations/202106/ASQ0511_202106_QualityMattersReport-ASQCertifications-Report.pdf

The 8 March 2023 Section 0511 meeting is a Round Table Discussion on one of the 26 Quality Matters topics that you voted for in our June 2021 poll, namely: Agile and Quality.

Quality Matters: Questions on Agile and Quality:

Relevant to this Round Table Discussion, please find and review the Agile Manifesto (2001) here: https://agilemanifesto.org/

The following questions on the topic of Agile and Quality will be up for discussion at the 8 March 2023 Section 0511 Round Table:

1. Agile Adoption. Let us define "Agile Adoption" as converting a non-Agile project into an Agile one or as launching a new project as Agile. Do Agile Adoption initiatives come from Client, from Staff, from Management, or from Quality Professionals? Are promises to improve Product or Service Quality one of the arguments that they give when they advocate to adopt Agile?
2. Quality Professionals in Agile Adoption. What is the role of Quality Professionals in the adoption of Agile? Did you as a Quality Professional participate in the Agile adoption on your project? If yes, then in what role? If not, then why not?
3. Agile Manifesto: Interactions vs. Processes and Tools. The Agile Manifesto values "individuals and interactions over processes and tools". What processes or tools can be de-emphasized on an Agile project in favor of individuals and interactions without degradation of product or service quality? Did your project reduce any processes or tools when it became Agile?
4. Agile Manifesto: Documentation vs. Working Product. The Agile Manifesto values "working software over comprehensive documentation". What documentation can be de-emphasized on an Agile project in favor assuring that the product or service really works? Did your project reduce documentation as a result of this Agile initiative?
5. Agile Manifesto: Customer Collaboration vs. Contract. The Agile Manifesto values "customer collaboration over contract negotiation". What aspects of customer relationship can be improved by de-emphasizing contract negotiations? Did your project improve customer collaboration as a result of adoption of Agile?
6. Agile Manifesto: Change Management vs. Plan. The Agile Manifesto values "responding to change over following a plan". How can responding to change be improved by de-emphasizing the rigor of plans. Did your project improve responding to change by less insistence on plans when you adopted Agile?
7. Quality Improvement. Does Agile, in full or in part, improve product or service quality? Or does Agile only expedite the delivery of products and services? How did the experience of your Agile project support your opinion in this?
8. New in Agile. Comparing Scrum and CMMI, Sprint Planning in Scrum is Planning in CMMI, Daily Scrum and Sprint Reviews in Scrum are Monitoring and Control in CMMI, Product Backlog is Requirements. The situation is similar in other methodologies. In light of this, which elements, if any, did the Agile Movement bring that the traditional Quality Improvement Frameworks did not? Did any of those new Agile elements help your project improve quality?
9. Retrospectives vs. Lessons Learned. Do Agile Retrospectives replace the traditional lessons learned? Or do retrospectives and lessons learned coexist on the same projects?
10. Verification and Validation. Does Agile displace the traditional V&V activities such as inspections, tests, and user acceptance? Did your project eliminate independent requirements definition, tests, or inspections in favor of Agile cross-functional Team work? If yes, has this improved quality?
11. Audits and Appraisals. Should projects abandon Quality Assurance Audits and Compliance Appraisals such as CMMI or ISO when they adopt Agile? What should Auditors and Appraisers do when teams say: "We don’t do such-and-so process or document anymore because we are Agile now!"?
12. Agile and Quality Methodologies. Do Agile Methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, PMI Disciplined Agile, Crystal Agile, and other replace Process and Quality Improvement Methodologies such as CMMI, ISO, Baldridge, ITIL, TQM, Six Sigma DMAIC, PDCA, Quality Circles and other? Did your project abandon your Quality Methodology such as CMMI credentials when it became Agile?
13. Quality Professionals on an Agile Project. What is the role of Quality Professionals on an Agile Project? Should the Quality Professional participate in Agile "ceremonies" such as Scrum’s Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Reviews, or Sprint Retrospectives?
14. Future of Agile and Quality. Is Agile just a fad that Quality Improvement and Quality Management need to survive? Will the Quality Movement become obsolete because of Agile? Or do you believe they will continue hand in hand or merge?

Read these questions now and become familiar with them. The questions discussed at the 8 March 2023 Round Table may be slightly modified from the above in case good improvements to those questions are identified; however, they will not differ significantly from the above, if at all.

You Speak Up, I Moderate:

At the March 2023 meeting, YOU are the speaker:

• The meeting is a Round Table discussion, not a presentation by a Featured Speaker.
• YOU should SPEAK UP. You can get floor multiple times. Please do!
• If you decide only to listen what others say and not share your experience and opinions, that is your choice, and it will be respected. You are encouraged to attend the discussion anyway if only to listen; you will not be called out to speak unless you speak up!
• Speak of your personal experience and express your personal opinions.
• You do not need to prepare a speech or slides, just speak up. You already know your experience and your opinions, and that is all that matters.
• Time will not allow lengthy speeches. We have 5 minutes per question, on average. So, be brief and share floor with others, so that several people could speak on every question.
• Time will not allow digressions. Speak on the topic and, specifically, on the question that is up for discussion. (Did I mention you should become familiar with the questions above?)
• Time will not allow discussion of similar topics. For example, topics such as Quality Professional, Quality vs. Process, Methodologies, Model-based Process Improvement, Quality Audits are NOT in scope of this discussion unless mentioning them reflects DIRECTLY upon your experience with and opinions on Agile and Quality.
• The list of the questions will be displayed during the discussion. We will go by the question list, top to bottom. Thus, limit your speech to the question at hand, perhaps drawing on the previously stated material but holding off on the questions that are still down the list.
• It is OK to speak on some questions and not on some others. Time will not allow everyone to speak on every question anyway.
• Your experience is unique and differs from the experience of others. Make it known! It is irrelevant what some book says on this topic or what they said on this topic someplace else. What matters is what YOU think on this NOW.
• A discussion is not a debate. You will get floor to express your experience and opinions on this Quality Matter, not to criticize the experience and opinions of other discussion participants.
• A discussion is not a Q&A session with the Moderator. The questions on the agenda are up for you to speak on, not for finding correct answers that do not exist.
• Have fun! This is your chance to get to know other Quality Professionals better and allow others to get to know you.

Moderator Background:

Charlotte Wild is a Quality Professional with extensive experience in software development, cloud migration, process improvement, management, CMMI, and Agile. She is the Quality Manager and the Scrum Master for a large government contractor.

Her experience includes process auditing and product compliance, championing process improvement initiatives, and serving as Scrum Master to cloud migration and software development teams. She has also worked on and audited mature CMMI organizations and teams.

Charlotte is an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) and a Scrum.org Certified Scrum Master. She has served as the Section’s Audit Chair since 2015 and has additionally joined as one of the Welcome Leads on the Section’s Welcome Committee since 2023.

Meeting Information

Section Leadership Committee Meeting Information
Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 at 6:00 pm EST
Joining by a direct link:
Meeting link: https://asq.webex.com/asq/j.php?MTID=mf1edec1b32ba1fbd0402e959a365ffba
Joining by meeting information (requires entering the password):
Web address: https://asq.webex.com/asq
Meeting number: 2551 557 3371
Password: FVcQFA8bx63
Joining by phone (you will have to identify yourself by name when you have joined):
Phone number: 1-408-792-6300 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 2551 557 3371

Section Meeting Information
Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 at 7:00 pm EST
Joining by a direct link:
Meeting link: https://asq.webex.com/asq/j.php?MTID=m3b7472dec5e630065ef96593398b8cc7
Joining by meeting information (requires entering the password):
Web address: https://asq.webex.com/asq
Meeting number: 2555 668 5112
Password: uiG58HuZ6A2
Joining by phone (you will have to identify yourself by name when you have joined):
Phone number: 1-408-792-6300 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 2555 668 5112

Next Meeting:

Member Meeting on 12 April 2023, topic TBD

Call for Speakers!!!

Would you or someone you know like to speak at a future ASQ meeting? We're always looking for volunteers. Be creative! Exercise your public presentation skills! Earn recertification credits! Get a free dinner when resume our dinner meetings! Please contact programs23@asq0511.org.

About Us:

ASQ Section 0511 is a geographic community in Northern Virginia that lives intertwined with the network of ASQ Divisions and technical communities specializing in specific quality domains and supporting ASQ Certifications in their domains.
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