Interview with Julian Clarke About Experimentus becomming world's first TMMi assessor
 
Q1. Julian congratulations on behalf of QAGUILD for Experimentus becoming world's first TMMi assessor. How do you feel about it?

We are absolutely delighted that Experimentus is the first UK organisation to have it’s TMMi assessment method accredited by the TMMi Foundation. This recognition is testament to the importance that we place on delivering a consistent and ‘’best in class’’ service.

One of our clients recently told us that we stood out in the Invitation-To-Tender (ITT) process because we demonstrated a good balance between testing theory and pragmatism. I believe that the TMMi Foundation Accreditation of Experimentus’ assessment method is yet a further distinguishing mark to strengthen our position in the ITT process. This independent endorsement provides the key decision maker (be it the CIO, IT Director, Head of Development or Head of Testing) with the assurance that Experimentus is a competent and reliable third party service provider of TMMi.

 
Q2. How long did it take for Experimentus to have its TMMi assessment method accredited?

About 2 months
 
Q3. What is TMMi and how does it helps companies and organisations to improve their testing process and overall quality?
  • TMMi stands for the Test Maturity Model Integrated. It is a model that enables the recognistion of areas for test process improvement. It also helps organisations to understand how mature their testing processes are (against their piers) then gives them a roadmap on how to improve them.
  • The structure of the TMMi model is complimentary to the CMMi. This is advantageous in the way it seamlessly supports and supplements one of the most common Software Engineering Models used globally, making it easily understandable. Like CMMi, TMMi uses the concept of 5 maturity levels for process evaluation and improvement - the higher the level of maturity, the higher the quality of software being developed is.
  • In accordance with ISO 15504, the TMMi® Foundation created TAMAR - the global standard requirements for TMMi assessment methods. Over the past three years, Experimentus has developed a TAMAR compliant assessment method and has trained assessors for the Test Maturity Model Integrated (TMMi).
 
Q4. On average, how long will it take for companies to be assessed at TMMi?
This is dependent upon the type of TMMi service you choose. Experimentus delivers four types of assessments across the five levels of TMMi.
TMMi Benchmark Assessment –
TMMi Baseline Assessment
TMMi Health Check
TMMi Quick Assessment
Our assessments have covered individual project’s, large programmes and across organisations all in search of qualitative and quantitative improvement.
 
Q5. Does Experimentus provide TMMi training and help companies to implement TMMi?
Yes, we have a number of courses to introduce the model to IT professionals. We pride ourselves in providing company-specific training and mentoring courses.
 
Q6. What are the business benefits of having a TMMi assessment?
The Experimentus TMMi assessment is an effective way of measuring current status and capabilities in testing, it will identify and prioritise the improvements that could be performed; but perhaps more importantly - given the current financial climate we are operating in - it will also illustrate demonstrable ROI for any proposed change. Clients have commented that the greatest benefit of a TMMi assessment is to put some order around how they improve, most know of the issues they have but have no idea what the most effective and quickest way to improve, and what provides the highest return on investment.
 
Q7. Would you like to pass on any message to the testing community?
Bearing in mind that the testing process can and often does absorb up to 50% of an IT project spend, how can you afford not to know how effective your processes are and how much more effective they could be.