Multiple-choice question: The best measure of software quality is:
a) satisfaction of specified requirements
b) adherence to defined processes
c) defect injection rate
d) defect removal efficiency
e) failure intensity of system in use
What about “all of the above”?
Or (my favorite, now that I have a daughter in law school)
“It depends”?
A better question: Identify the stakeholders who might choose
each of the options above. Perhaps the answer would be something
like:
a) contract office
b) process engineering group
c) developers
d) evaluators
e) end users
So the answer to the first question really is “all of the above.”
Another question: Who should read this journal, attend ASQ Software Division conferences, and participate in CSQE-based training and continuing education?
Should it be restricted only to personnel with “software quality” in their job titles? How about also including developers, systems engineers, process improvement experts (whatever color their belt), acquisition specialists, managers at all levels, and end users?
Again the best answer: “all of the above.”
I must admit that a major frustration of mine as journal editor—and, indeed, as a longtime active volunteer with the ASQ Software Division—is how software quality practitioners often seem to be so inbred. Software quality ought not to be studied and practiced by only an exclusive clique or limited to those few who know the secret handshake and the magic buzzwords.
On the other hand, I have taken great pleasure in seeing quality principles and practices move increasingly into the mainstream of software engineering. Maybe practitioners don’t label their techniques with the tag of “quality” but they are “doing quality.”
Let’s keep that trend going. Let’s also work on enlarging our circle of colleagues. Let’s broaden the population of those who study and discuss material they encounter in this journal, in training courses, in conferences, and in local meetings of professional societies.
Let’s keep aiming for “all of the above.”
-Taz
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