Symbian^2 Defect Scrub

We are now nearing the end of the hardening phase for Symbian^2. This means that the community is concluding their productisation efforts and it is ready to move the release into a “Stable” condition. Only contributions associated to critical defects will be accepted. It also signals that the community at large should focus on hardening Symbian^3.

Today we have around 160+ defects still open against Symbian^2. Normally, community activity (package owners and contributors) would take care of them. However, Symbian^2 is still in start-up mode and this has not happened. So, We have 2 choices, leave the bugs where they are or clean them up.

To make sure that Bugtracker does not accumulate so much noise that renders itself useless for quality management in the future, the Release Council agreed to sponsor a”Defect Scrub” exercise. Continue reading “Symbian^2 Defect Scrub” →

Quality Snapshot for S^2

I have refered on the past to the capability of reporting metrics against the Symbian Platform. Finally we are there!

This week the team produce the first snapshot of Bug , Code size and Code Churn with real data. The snapshot is to be presented on Friday to the Release Council for feedback. Let’s have a look at it in more detail:

Defect/Bug Metics

These are graphics auto-generated from Bugtracker Metrics, it allows you to drill down to as much detail as you want. The data in the snapshot is frozen from an specific date, but you can re-run the queries live from the bugtracker metrics interface.

Now that we can measure it, we can start introducing some standard defect management practices.

Continue reading “Quality Snapshot for S^2” →

Risk Analysis – Integration plan (part 2)

Every person has a different risk profile. This is the willingness of that person to take a chance to achieve a reward versus the probability of failure. The amount of risk we are willing to take seems to be correlated to the reward promised and the time frame associated to it (i.e. will I get teh reward tomorrow, in 2 or 10 years). Risk profiles of companies are somehow a weighted average of the risk profiles of their employees. Hence, different companies (even in the same market segment) have different risk profiles. Continue reading “Risk Analysis – Integration plan (part 2)” →

Less Open Source and More Community Source?

When faced with the option of buying a car, I considered 2 options:

Shall I buy a new or semi-new one from a dealership. Yes, you do pay a premium for the same car but if it is not quite right I have a guarantee and a large company behind it that will provide support and get it sort it. Or,
Shall I buy it on-line from a private party. With a lager market to choose from (with websites such as autotrader), it would allow me to find a cheaper option and to “fix-it up” to my standards. Also, I can normally check the history of the car and have an accurate guess at what might be wrong with it.

What I never considered is to walk-in into a dealership an be confronted with the following scenario: “You can take this car for free, you can inspected if you want. There is one catch, if it breaks down or you want to change anything you need to come to us to fix it!” Clearly, this never actually happened to me.

Lately there is a trend in open source that make me feel like I am walking into that sort of dealership. As a user of platform software, it is great to have access to the code but it is frustrating not to have influence over how it changes. Continue reading “Less Open Source and More Community Source?” →

Quality Metrics

Measuring SW quality can be complicated, even for a chipmunk

Maintaining the current high quality levels of the platform assets is a big priority for both our members and ourselves.

In the past, Symbian Ltd. did a good job at understanding how the software maturity was evolving and when the platform would be ready for releasing. Moving to open source has changed the sources of information available to us and their reliability. So, can we still measure the quality of our platform?

To answer this question, the Release Council launched a working group, back in June, that has identified a set of initial metrics for the job.

Continue reading “Quality Metrics” →