The application of ISO 9001 to agile

software development
Geir Kjetil Hanssen, NTNU/SINTEF
Tor Stlhane, NTNU

Agile development - 1

Agile development - 2
ISO 9001 is document driven. The Scrum process
can generate the following set of documents:
At the start of the project: Process adaptation
Before each iteration: New and changed
requirements the product backlog
After each iteration:
Evaluation of conformity to requirements
Review of process conformity
Problems and their causes
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ISO 9001 requirements - 1

The supplier must have a quality assurance
management process to ensure an explicit
development process and process
conformance
Product quality is the responsibility of the
companys management
The supplier must have one or more
documented development processes. The
process must produce documents that can be
Reviewed for acceptance by the customer
Used as proof of conformance
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ISO 9001 requirements - 2

All reports of non-conformance both for
product and for process shall be reported
and must lead to corrective actions

What have we done

To identify the problem areas for ISO 9001
vs Agile development, we combined the
results from two processes. We went
through:
All available literature
All items of ISO 90001 and identified
possible relevant agile practices

The problem areas

Problems pertaining to ISOI 9001 and agile
development stems from the fact that:
Agile development focus on making code
not documents
ISO 9001 uses documents to establish
confidence in
Process conformance
Product quality
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The challenge - 1
The main challenge in ISO 9001 certifying an
agile development process is to balance
two opposing goals:
ISO 9001s need for documentation of all
process steps
Agile developments reluctance of
excessive document production, taking
resources and focus away from code
development
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The challenge - 2
Agile development is flexible if a project
requires that a certain document should
be produced this requirement it can be
included in the project
BUT
Agile development will stop being agile
when it is required to develop a large
amount of documents
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ISO 9001 vs. Agile development

For 31 sections no change was
necessary.
For 15 sections there was some
disagreement between ISO 9001 and
agile development.
For 4 sections there was a total
disagreement between ISO 9001 and
agile development.
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What should be done - 1

Agile development needs to document more. In
particular, we will need documents from:
The initial planning activities
Definition of measurable quality objectives, e.g.
ala Evo
All activities for use as proof of conformance
High level and low level design
Reviews of each iteration
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What should be done - 2

ISO 9001 must be more flexible in that the
standard
Needs to change its interpretation of
document inspection
Expand its definition of what is
appropriate documentation, e.g. for proof
of conformance

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Example agile development is OK

ISO 9001 4.2.1d: ...include documents
needed by the organization to ensure the
effective planning , operation and control
of its process.
Agile development always starts by
defining how the methodology shall be
used in a project

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Example more documents

ISO 9001 5.4.1: ...The quality objectives
shall be measurable and consistent with
the quality policy.
Enhancement of agile development: all agile
methods should use a measurement
regime comparable to the one used in the
agile development method Evo
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Example changed definition

ISO 9001 7.7.2: The organization shall
review the requirements related to the
product. The review shall be conducted
prior to the organizations commitment to
supply a product...
We believe that it is impossible to get a
complete overview of all details up front;
instead the most important aspects
should be documented.
In our opinion, ISO 9001 should be
changed accordingly
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Example expanded definition

ISO 9001 7.3.1a: ...the organization
shall determine the design and
development changes.
The challenge to agile development is
proof of conformance have we really
done this?
Documents that should be accepted as
evidence of conformance are e.g.
pictures of the whiteboard showing
requirements planned or work
completed
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Conclusions
Agile development will be more and more
important in a world that is changing faster
and faster
ISO 9001 certification will be more and more
important to build confidence as more and
more customers will lack IT competence
It is unwise of one of these two ideas to
ignore the other
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