In all my quality induction sessions, I get
almost the same answer to my question “ What is quality ? “ . So , the answers
which the audience came up in the induction which I conducted recently were
also more or less these :
- Quality means documentation
- Quality means less defects
- Quality means giving more functionality to the customer
- Quality means estimating and planning so that we give more time
for reviews etc.
- Quality is “Conformance to Requirements”
I cannot dispute
the above statements since some of them are true if taken in isolation. But the
above statements do not convey the full essence of quality nor do they give the
big picture. So apart from “Quality
is conformance to requirements “ , the rest of the definitions are incomplete
and some of them are incorrect if taken in isolation.
What really is
Quality ? For many organizations or projects , software quality is viewed as a luxury
or “good to have”. And for such mindsets, software quality is often “sacrificed”
for added functionality, faster development at lower costs. Most of the times ,
however, at a very late stage , do the managers realize that they end up
spending more time in fixing defects in the completed software resulting
in a much higher cost.
Compared to other
engineering disciplines, low quality is often tolerated in software
development. Think of a situation where you just bought a refrigerator or a
camera and when you start using it , it does not work in the way it is supposed
to . You would immediately lodge a complaint
and return the appliance. Not only would you not recommend this product to any
one, you would even discourage others from buying that brand. In the software
domain, low or poor quality is common mainly because the users or the customers
are limited and there is this mindset of “better than previous version”
or “something is better than nothing”.
Quality can be
termed as the sum of reliability , performance, functionality, zero defects ,
usability, supportability, scalability and the most important , software should
run the way it is supposed to. Many people believe that they will “do quality”
only after they get time after they “do their project”. This may be due to the
notion that quality is documentation and hence an overhead. And quality and project work are two
different entities. The inference from
this thought may be due to the way quality at work is perceived by an
associate. However , what needs to be understood is that quality is a well defined
process for creating a useful product that adds value for both consumer and
manufacturer. An apt definition of quality as penned by James Juran is
quality means “fitness for use”. In this age of competitiveness, quality
is the differentiator. If we take the example of the automotive domain , in 1970s , the
Japanese automotive manufacturers
adopted Deming’s rigorous quality assurance program and became
known for their highly efficient usable and reliable cars. Thus quality became the differentiators and
the Japanese cars were taken as the benchmark for automotive quality.
Another import
aspect is innovation. The concept of continuous process improvement leads to
organizational innovations. With sound
processes in place , it is possible to react , adopt and deploy the innovations
efficiently.
Last but not at
all the least , according to Phil Crossby, Quality is free. The
statement may not be literally true , but
if you compare the cost of quality with the price of non compliance ,
the ratio is zero. The concept is doing things right the first time. My experience is that quality and process are
often traded for speedy development, but
in the long run, we find that processes enable the team to deliver more on time
and at a lower cost. There is less person dependency and more people maturity
in the team.
For quality to
percolate down in any organization, an
essential ingredient is the drive and focus of Senior management.
And yes, everybody can and should contribute to the
quality drive in an organization . An organization can move forward in the Quality space only with the participation and involvement of all the employees,
Cheers !