“What is Rational Quality Manager” and “How do I get started”

“What is Rational Quality Manager” and “How do I get started”.  Those are two questions that we hear on a daily basis.   The answer is pretty simple, but nothing we’ve ever documented, so accordingly, here is how we suggest you get to know, learn and love Rational Quality Manager.

Step 1:  Learn the basics of quality management.  Some great resources to get started with are:

• Video: Quality Management in 3 Minutes explains the basics of Quality Management at a high level.  No big words, so this one is safe for managers.
• This Blog:  http://QualityManager.wordpress.com, which covers all sorts of topics related to Quality Management.
• Our Brother Blog, the Rational Tester: http://RationalTester.wordpress.com, which covers all sorts of topics related to automated software quality

Step 2: Learn the basics about the product.  I’d suggest 3 things in the following order:

• The Rational Quality Manager Demo gives a great overview of how the tool works
• The Rational Quality Manager Tidbits series on our YouTube channel drills one level deeper on some of the key features of Quality Manager.  Each tidbit is only a few minutes long, and explains one interesting feature about the tool
• Finally, go get the Trial Version of Rational Quality Manager, which is a full featured trial you can explore for 60 days.

Step 3: Now that you’ve got the basics down, dig a little deeper on Rational Quality Manager

• There is a series of articles on Using Rational Quality Manager for the First Timeon developerWorks.  This series will guide you though all the major phases of managing a quality assurance project with Rational Quality Manager

Step 4: Now that you have a good understand Quality Management and Rational Quality Manager, the following will help you go even deeper in the topic and our portfolio

• Rational Quality Management Thought Leadership White Paper Series.  Here’s where we keep our library of in depth topics on Quality Management
• Streamline Software Delivery to Gain Market Advantage: Series Overview.  A webcast by the Rational Vice President of Product Development.
• Additional Rational Podcasts.  A general site with various Rational podcasts – including one about this blog entry!
• Keep up to date with the development team.   jazz.net is the development site for the Rational Jazz initiative, the foundation upon which RQM is built.  Follow development projects and milestones, interact with development teams, get the latest product betas, and join the community discussions.

There you have it – everything you need to know about Rational Quality Manager in 4 steps!