Quality Storming

A process from space travel in the 1950s, developed to produce contamination-free astronaut food, is now used in software teams to prevent errors before they occur. Quality Storming combines food safety with software testing and uses red masking tape, post-its and physically tangible workshops to make visible where quality is lost in the development process. The approach shows: The most effective test work is that which prevents errors from getting into the product in the first place.

Podcast Episode: Quality Storming

In this episode, I talk to Georg Haupt about Quality Storming, a workshop format for real quality. Georg combines his experience as a chef with topics from NASA and event storming. The result can only be exciting. Quality Storming makes mistakes visible and tangible with masking tape. Moderation and openness are crucial.

“A good process makes a good product.” - Georg Haupt

Georg Haupt is a quality evangelist and his motto is: “From practice for practice!” His mission is to bring the importance of quality to the teams.

His professional history is very exciting and varied, from chef to testing guru. As a result, he has gained many perspectives that constantly flow into his work.

As a test and quality management expert, he can look back on 20 years of practical experience in both agile and classic software and hardware testing.

Developing and establishing new workshop formats, gamification, test methods and processes is a long-standing practice for her. This is particularly important when introducing cross-team test and test management tools and processes.

In his private life, he is an experimentally playful smart home technology freak. He has also been a DJ, web radio presenter and cineaste for over 30 years.

Highlights der Episode

• Quality Storming combines HACCP from the food industry with Event Storming for process analysis.
• Drawing errors across the room with masking tape makes quality problems physically tangible.
• Process improvement dies in Excel wallpaper - haptic workshops create lasting “aha” moments.
• 80 percent of the work is preparation, whether it’s hollandaise sauce or test automation.
• Managers in workshops prevent honest actual processes through the hippo effect.

Quality Storming: How to really understand software processes

Testing software properly often seems like an endless puzzle. Errors appear even though processes seem to be clearly defined. But how many of them do not arise in the actual code, but much earlier - in the workflow? In the podcast episode “quality-storming”, Richie explored this topic with Georg Haupt. Georg introduces a workshop format that helps to find the real weak points in the software process: Quality Storming.

What is quality storming?

Quality Storming is a moderated workshop that makes the real development process of software visible and comprehensible. You start with a clear beginning and end - for example, “The idea for a software is born” and “The feature is used by the customer”. In between, all participants stick notes on the wall showing each step of the process from their point of view. They include people from testing, development, support, project management and sometimes even management.

The goal? Not the documented version of the process from the manual, but everyday life. Where are the stumbling blocks, what path does an error take through the system? What really happens between requirement, first code, testing and delivery?

The roots: Kitchen and NASA meet IT

Georg Haupt originally comes from the kitchen. As a chef, he learned the HACCP principle - a method used by NASA to guarantee that astronauts do not get spoiled food. In principle, it’s about controlling the important points in the process: Where can something go wrong? How do I prevent this? HACCP is now standard in food companies.

Later, Georg comes across event storming in IT, a format from domain-driven design. He combines both worlds in Quality Storming. In the workshop, errors and weak points are not only discussed, but made tangible - for example with a ribbon that is stretched across the room as an “error line”. Anyone who has to step over it quickly realizes how annoying such errors really are.

Participate and empathize: Why the workshop format is so effective

Nothing is glossed over in quality storming. The participants discuss how processes actually work. The moderator ensures that there is no finger-pointing. It is not about blame, but about discovering weak points together.

Many experience the process as a whole for the first time. Suddenly it becomes apparent that test cases are often written too early or too late, that important information is missing or that teams don’t even know what the others are actually doing. The discussions are sometimes heated, but that is precisely the point: this is the only way for everyone to understand where the causes of the errors lie.

There is also the physical experience: when the tape hangs across the room as an error line and you have to crawl under it again and again, everyone feels first-hand how disruptive errors are to the flow of work.

Mistakes as an opportunity: from analysis to real improvement

Quality Storming is more than just a meeting. It offers methods to make real process improvement tangible. For example, the most important errors from the last sprint are discussed and the tape shows where they occurred. Everyone then works together to find ways to shorten the tape - and therefore the path of the error. In the workshop, the group uses lightning bolts to mark places where ambiguities occur. Teams are then formed to develop concrete solutions and implement them over the next few weeks.

Root cause analysis also plays a role. Why do mistakes happen in the first place? It is often due to communication gaps, tasks that are too complex at once or a lack of information. The workshop format uncovers blind spots and encourages participants to think in completely new ways.

Learn, network, improve

Quality Storming involves people from different areas. Many learn for the first time what other teams really do. New contacts are made, communication becomes easier - even after the workshop. The process is approachable, vivid and haptic. As a result, what is learned sticks and the motivation to actually implement changes increases.

Quality is created in the process

As Georg Haupt summarizes, quality depends above all on good preparation, open communication and teamwork. In software, as in the kitchen, the process is decisive. Quality storming brings people together, uncovers weaknesses and makes improvements tangible - and this is often much more effective than any traditional assessment. If you take an honest look at your process, you will find the way to better software without any detours.