Perspectives On Software Quality
Source: Dev.to
Different Perspectives on Software Quality
The quality of software—or any product—can be viewed from multiple perspectives because various stakeholders bring their own unique views and interests to the table.
- User‑perceived quality – often highly subjective and personal.
- Process quality – the quality of the process used to build the product, which is particularly important to members of a software team.
The Risk of Prioritizing a Single Perspective
A common issue in software organisations is the tendency to prioritize one specific perspective over others. For example, treating customer or user quality as more important than process quality is a fallacy. Although these quality perspectives are often represented by different people, they are inextricably intertwined and cannot stand on their own.
Consequences of Imbalance
- Focusing solely on user quality while neglecting process quality can lead to a deteriorating codebase, making it difficult or impossible to add new features.
- Prioritizing only process quality while ignoring user quality may result in a technically impressive product that fails to attract users and ultimately serves no purpose.
Balancing All Quality Perspectives
Organisations that empower their software teams to invest equally in all quality perspectives will outperform those that do not maintain this balance. By addressing both user needs and robust development processes, teams can deliver high‑quality, sustainable software that satisfies stakeholders and end‑users alike.