Book a Video Meeting with Kai Gilb

Lean SpecQC

Think Inspections & Reviews on Steroids

 

"You can’t test quality in ... you have to design it in."

QA the intelligent way

GET ACCESS

Everyone in Quality Assurance Deserves a great work culture

but there is a problem...

Software Development and Systems development is exceptionally complicated. With little to no quality control of specifications before code and specifications are handed over to QA for testing, combined with unreasonable delivery deadlines, and you end up with code and specifications, handed over to testers, that are full of bugs and other issues. Then the QA group is supposed to test the code/system before release. Testing code/systems full of bugs and issues is at best expensive and hugely time-consuming and more realistically impossible to do effectively.
Finally, deadlines force the shipping of software with known and unknown quality issues.
And the whole process is stressful for everyone.

High Cost of Testing

Shipping Delays

Long Testing Phases

Costly Reviews & Inspections

Shipping with Known Quality Issues

Bad Reputation with Customers

With the Lean SpecQC online course you learn how to prevent these issues

GET ACCESS

Quality Control is for most people and organizations reduced to Testing,

even though we are aware of how costly Testing is and that there are more intelligent ways to achieve Quality and to do Quality Control. Lean SpecQC is one of the most effective and proven methods for intelligent Quality Control you can do.

 

Meet your Guide

"I understand the frustration QA responsible people are facing when the code is full of bugs and the deadline pressure is on."

We wrote the book on systematic optimised Software Inspections and have trained hundreds of people in multiple companies all around the world to master it. We invented, developed and tuned the Lean SpecQC for the needs of a major international bank and have since been teaching the Lean SpecQC process around the world.

- Kai Gilb

Intended Audience

Authors of project critical documents (Contracts, Requirements, Architecture, Design, Tests),
Quality Assurance,
Testing Responsible,
Quality Control.

Note: this is not Testing, but higher-level QA & QC. Several corporations we teach to, the Testing director have taken responsibility for the SpecQC process. This was the case for the Microsoft Office Group. It is also not software specific, these methods work on specified ideas, and making sure they are clear, understood and with very few "defects". We have extensively used these methods at systems engineering companies like Intel, Boeing and Ericsson.

GET ACCESS

QC Quality-Control vs QA Quality Assurance vs Lean SpecQC

The goal of QC is to identify defects after a product is developed and before it's released.

With Lean SpecQC, we identify defects in specifications, but not for the purpose of finding and fixing them.

  1. For specific document types, we define best practice authoring standards we call Authoring-Rules. Not following the Authoring-Rules constitutes a Defect.
  2. QA defines an Exit-Criteria specifying the maximum number of Defects allowed in various specification types.
  3. We use Lean SpecQC with Checkers to sample and measure the defect density in the specification.
  4. If the document passes the Exit-Criteria, it can be used by its intended readers.
  5. If the document doesn't pass the Exit-Criteria, the author has to re-write the whole specification. Not just fix the defects found.
  6. Then go to point 3. again.

The goal of QA is to improve development and test processes so that defects do not arise when the product is being developed.

What is important to understand here is that with Lean SpecQC we are not finding all the Defects for the author to fix, and then they are done. We have just sampled the specification, based on the findings of this sample, authors have to learn how to write according to the Authoring-Rules.

  1. According to the Authoring-Rules and the feedback given by the Checkers, the author writes or re-writes the whole specification, not just the sample checked by Lean SpecQC.
  2. The Authors Learn to Write according to best practice standards. Due to the effectiveness of Lean SpecQC to find Defects, the authors are forced to learn how to write so the intended audience understands, as intended by the author, and according to all other Authoring-Rules.
  3. The Company Authoring Process Improves. The Exit-Criteria ensures that the Authoring Process is optimized with best-practice standards, the appropriate time to do work, tools to write to higher standards and training to author well.

Benefits achieved by practitioners

10X Reduction in Testing time

Shorten Time-to-Market with up to 50%

Confidently Ship High Quality

Lack of clarity, unambiguous, and incorrect statements in project specifications (Contracts, Requirements, Design, Code, Test-Plans, etc.) can lead to significant delays and outright failures in projects. Projects today are usually very complex with high demands on delivered Quality while at the same time resources and delivery timelines are very strict. The time pressure and complexity lead to errors in the project documentation. The costs of an error created in a higher-level document multiply as it spreads down into the documentation and into the product. The norm is to freely allow these defects to be created and to spread throughout the documentation and into the product without doing much about it. It is, therefore, the norm to have long, costly testing phases, and even to have so many defects in the testing phases that one under deadline pressures release products with lower quality levels than the company and the customers like.
With Lean SpecQC, you learn how to quickly measure the Quality of the documents (Contracts, Requirements, Design, Code) at the time of writing them. You will learn how to use these measurements up against quantitative document Exit criteria, to ensure that the quality levels of the documents are economical to release, that the documents will not cause delays for the projects in its later stages.
The process is focused on giving the document authors the feedback they need to learn to write their documents to a high standard. They will learn to write documents that will not cause problems and time delays later. The Authors will learn, the authoring process will improve, and the defects showing up at Test will be dramatically reduced.

GET ACCESS

Slavomir Pagerka

"Lean SpecQC was a valuable and pretty challenging course, really nice with quizzes, examples, workshops containing all the necessary information to start to become a Lean SpecQC Leader in the organization.

I really appreciate what I have learned and hope I can apply this method in my organization also.

Kai is very helpful, he offers remote zoom sessions and answers questions and comments regarding the course and its content during sessions.

Thanks a lot."

Slavomir's Lean SpecQC Certification

Certification earned: 
Lean SpecQC Leader - Trained

Professionals with a Lean SpecQC Leader Certification have the skills to plan, execute, and follow-up a Lean SpecQC. They know how to measure the document quality through the use of sampling, optimum checking rates, rules, procedures, and numeric entry and exit conditions.
This skill set will add tremendous value to any authoring process where defects add downstream costs.

valuecertification.com

 1. In-depth knowledge of How to lead a Lean SpecQC
2. How to quickly (within one hour) Measure the defect level of any document.
3. How to stabilize the Lean SpecQC-effectiveness using optimum-checking-rates and specification-rules.
4. How to find defects and how to estimate the remaining defects that are not yet found.
5. How to use numeric Entry and Exit conditions.

An easy-peasy user interface combined with top-notch technology.

makes the whole experience a pleasant one.

Lessons in 4K Video

The videos are shot and delivered in 4K. You can run the lesson videos on a Big 70-inch screen or a high definition screen, and the video lessons look sharp.

Lean SpecQC Mobile App

That is right, you get an app just for your Lean SpecQC course. Android and Apple iOS. Great for training on the go!

Discussion-Boards Quizzes Completion-Tracking

When you have a question, a thought, an input, I will be there to discuss it with you on the discussion board integrated into every lesson.

Integrated Quizzes and Lesson Completion Tracking and more make the experience a smooth one.

Speed-up or See it again and again

You can run that lesson again and again; I never tire teaching on video.

If I'm talking too slow, you can speed me up.

If, after seeing a few lessons, you leave it for a few days, when you get back, it will pick it up where you left it.

Using Lean SpecQC, you will learn

a process to write and Quality Control documents to a quality level that ensures that you don’t end up with hundreds or thousands of defects at the Test stage and in the field. Most software development projects end up with lengthy and costly testing phases. This is avoidable using Lean SpecQC.
Document Authors learn, through systematic feedback from their colleagues, to write their documents following agreed standards that lead to clarity and fewer bugs. This again leads to vastly reduced time to market.

Learning to write documents, so the intended audience understands your intentions unambiguously and clearly.
Creating a culture of authors that write their documents to a high level of Quality.
Reducing time to market for your product development with 50%
Releasing products with high-quality levels on time and under budget.

What is it worth to you to have Authors write their Specifications, unambiguously clear and understandable, correct and according to an agreed standard.
What is it worth to you to getting to test and finding very few defects.
What is it worth to you if you and your team could deliver your products with high-quality levels early?
What is it worth to you to reduce the time to market by 50% ?

Your path to 10X your Quality Assurance Efficiency

Get
Access To
The
Training

Apply
Lean SpecQC
to Critical
Documents - and keep going :-)

Reduce
Testing Time
by 10X

One Participant - Pay with Card

€275

Europe & Rest of World

  • Immediate Access
  • 60 days availability
  • Feedback on Exercises
  • Weekly Principles
    (€173 when purchased separately)
  • Certification - Lean SpecQC - Trained
GET ACCESS

One Student - Pay with Card

$299

United States

  • Immediate Access
  • 60 days availability
  • Feedback on Exercises
  • Weekly Principles 
    (€173 when purchased separately)
  • Certification - Lean SpecQC - Trained
GET ACCESS

Invoice or Groups or On-Site

from $299

Customize

  • If you want to pay by invoice (also for one Participant)
  • One Day training In-House On-Site
  • Group & Company Discounts
  • If you want to talk to us to get more information.
GET IN TOUCH