Minimum Viable Quality

We've all heard of the concept of the Minimum Viable Product. It's a core component of The Lean Startup methodology and the first element of the build-measure-learn feedback loop. If you haven't had a chance to read it, I really recommend picking up a copy of The Lean Startup. (and yes, these concepts apply to everyone, no matter the size of your company)

I came across the concept of Minimum Viable Quality a few months ago, when I was reading through my feed of quality and testing blogs, and it piqued my interest.

As many of us are trying to rapidly ship our software and get it into the hands of our customers as soon as possible, traditional approaches to testing are no longer providing the value that they used to. We're accustomed to periods of regression testing and product hardening phases, but these approaches slow down our delivery.

Here's a great diagram that gives a brief overview of MVQ.

Ken Johnston’s “Minimum Viable Quality (MVQ)” testing model

Using this approach to testing should get our products into production sooner, for real users to provide us with faster feedback. However, you'll need to find the balance between minimum viable quality and poor quality; if no one uses our product, then we are no longer learning what we should be developing next.

We need to be comfortable with shipping buggier software as fast as possible because the speed at which we release software is a key competitive advantage.

I'll be sharing this concept in late July with a group of Quality Assurance professionals from my company and I plan on reporting back with the questions and comments that come out of that session.

Introduction

I am truly excited to start something that I've always wanted to do.

I have gained a lot of knowledge throughout these early years of my career in software quality and testing by reading the thoughts of other professionals through their blogs. The blogs I frequently visit are always offering me new ways to approach my work and to solve problems.

Two experts that I consider to be leaders in this field have been blogging for years: James Bach and Michael Bolton. More recently, I've been reading the blogs over at the Ministry of Testing, which give me the perspectives of quality professionals across the pond.

So why am I interested in getting started blogging?

Writing about my thoughts on this blog will help me better understand the decisions I make and the beliefs I have. I also want to encourage others to comment on my thoughts so that I can learn more about the things that matter most to me.

About Me

My name is Rob and I've lived and worked in or around Milwaukee, Wisconsin all of my life. I am a software quality professional with a strong passion for user experience and more than four years of experience in software testing and quality assurance.

I received a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and I have since worked at both supply chain technology and healthcare technology companies. Currently, I am a Quality Engineer at API Healthcare and I'm a part of the team that's developing our healthcare analytics and business intelligence solution.

If you'd like to learn more about me, you can find me on LinkedIn and on Twitter (@AisoRed).