Food for Thought-An e-newsletter published by Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
April 2009, Vol. 6 No. 3 
Does Anyone Care About Quality?

What topics would you like to see in this newsletter?  Each month, this
newsletter tries to provide you with useful information.  This is a two-way
street and your feedback is important.  Please send your thoughts and comments
to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Food for Thought(TM), an e-newsletter from Software Quality 
Consulting (http://www.swqual.com/index.html?Intro). I've created free
subscriptions for my valued business contacts. If you find this newsletter
informative, I encourage you to continue reading. Feel free to pass this
newsletter along to colleagues by clicking this Forward Email link
(http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/sa/fp.jsp?plat=i&p=f&m=sctz69n6). If
you�ve received this newsletter from a colleague and would like to subscribe,
please click this Enter New Subscription link (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/
Subscribe.htm?Newsletter). If you don't wish to receive this newsletter, click
the SafeUnSubscribe(TM) link at the bottom of this newsletter, and you won�t be 
bothered again.

Your continued feedback on this newsletter is most welcome. Please send 
your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In This Months� Topic, I discuss the importance of delivering a quality 
product...

Regular features to look for each month are:

- Monthly Morsels
  Hints, tips, techniques and reference info related to this month�s topic 

- Calendar
  Conferences, workshops, and meetings of interest to software engineers, 
  QA engineers and anyone interested in software development 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Does Anyone Care About Quality?  ***

Most consumers care about quality. When consumers buy products and 
services, there is an expectation of quality. When you go to the pharmacy 
for a cold remedy, you expect the product you buy will help you feel 
better, not make you sicker. When you buy a new car, you expect it will 
work as advertised, not stall on the highway. If you need technical 
support for say, a new laptop, you expect the support person will actually 
help you solve your problem, not give you a run-around.
For some reason, our expectations for software are much lower than for any 
other product. When we buy software, we expect it will be buggy. We seem 
to be resigned to the fact that software will have problems and there is 
nothing we can do about it.


  �...there�s ultimately one reason software companies keep selling 
  buggy software. Because we let them.� [1]

The issue I would like to discuss this month is - does anyone care about 
quality?

DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE A REPUTATION FOR QUALITY?

Some companies are known for delivering quality products. Companies like 
H-P and Motorola are two examples of large companies known for producing 
consistently high quality software products. By working hard at 
integrating a quality culture into all aspects of software product 
development, these companies have earned the respect and the loyalty of 
many consumers. These companies have made a considerable investment in 
quality. The return on this investment is fiercely loyal customers. What 
could be better than that?

However, once a company�s quality reputation becomes tarnished, customers 
will choose someone else and it is often extremely difficult to win those 
customers back. You need only look at what�s left of the US auto industry 
to see firsthand evidence of this. A recent article in the Wall Street 
Journal stated that:

  �A perception of inferior quality is the most serious problem facing GM, 
  aside from its financial predicament� [2]

Even though independent organizations such as Consumer Reports have given 
GM cars such as the Chevy Malibu high marks for quality, the perception is 
that many American made cars don�t compare to European and Asian cars with 
regard to quality and reliability. Having owned a Malibu back when it 
suffered from poor quality, I swore I would never buy another one.

Japanese automakers showed the world it was possible to build high quality 
cars for a reasonable price. The CEO of Ford, a huge fan of Toyota�s 
legendary quality practices, is trying to do for Ford what Toyota has done 
for the rest of the auto industry - instill a quality culture. Like GM, 
Ford�s reputation has been tarnished...

  In the 1970�s, Ford chose to ignore a lethal defect in the Pinto. This 
  was as an example of corporate arrogance and disregard for consumers. 
  This decision demonstrated that Ford did not care about quality or 
  safety.

- Read more about the Ford Pinto�s safety problems... 
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Safety_problems)

Now how does all this relate to software? Several people have observed 
that there are striking similarities between the arrogance that typified 
the US automakers for several decades and the software industry. Think 
about it - what other industry routinely produces defective products, is 
aware of many of these defects, chooses to not fix them, and then has the 
audacity to charge customers for fixing these defects!

How did we get here? Software marketing people have long believed that 
quality does not sell and that only new features sell. If that were true, 
then:

- Why is Google Search - which ostensibly has only one feature - the most 
  popular search engine in the world? 

- Why have so many PC users refused to migrate to Vista? There�s lots of 
  new features in Vista but many of these people have finally realized 
  that we don�t need all those new features - we need stability and 
  quality! 

A recent article in InformationWeek magazine reported that:

  �Of the sites monitoring software quality in InformationWeek Research�s 
  Software Quality survey, 82% say they have avoided using a vendor 
  because of a reputation for poor-quality code.� [5]

  �More than three-quarters of the 198 companies in InformationWeek's 
  survey monitoring the performance of their software apps say that 
  software quality is a significant consideration when choosing a software 
  vendor, and just one in five considers it a minor matter. Only 3% report 
  that software quality isn't a factor when selecting a software vendor.� 
  [5]

In the current economy, I believe software companies who deliver lower 
quality products and services - whether intentionally or unintentionally - 
will be in worse shape when the recession ends than those who do deliver 
better quality products and services.

WHY CARE ABOUT SOFTWARE QUALITY?

We need to care about software quality because software is finding its way 
into more and more aspects of routine daily life...

  �Software is pervasive in modern society, but we are often unaware of 
  its presence until problems arise. Software is one ofthe most important 
  and yet one of the most economically challenging technologies of the 
  current era. As a purely intellectual product, it is among the most 
  labor intensive, complex, and error-prone technologies in human history. 
  Even though many successful software products and systems exist in the 
  world today, an overall lack of attention to quality has also led to 
  many problematic systems that do not work right as well as to many 
  software projects that are late, over budget, or canceled.� [3] 

A recent study by the US National Institute of Science and Technology 
(NIST) [6] estimated that software defects cost the US economy almost $60 
billion a year. Given the increasing trends in application complexity, 
this number is certainly likely to increase... 

So why does it seem that customers don�t care about software quality? 
Well, as Watts Humphrey observed: 

   �Because defective software works.� [7] 

It may not work in every situation or for every user, but it usually works 
as long as users stay within defined use models. These defined use models 
represent the best guess of developers and testers as to how users will 
use the software. Watts Humphrey calls these defined use models the 
�testing footprint� [7] as shown below. 

HOW CAN WE DEVELOP HIGH QUALITY SOFTWARE WHEN WE KNOW THAT ZERO-DEFECTS IS 
NOT POSSIBLE?

Given the exponential increase in complexity, everyone should understand 
that releasing software with zero-defects is not practical and not 
possible.

- To understand why, read more about defective software... 
  (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol2/no11/vol2no11.html)

So what can we do? Well, understanding your customer�s testing footprint 
is very similar to a testing strategy I call - Act Like a Customer 
Testing. TM Test teams who use Act Like a Customer Testing TM often find 
that there are far fewer defects reported by customers. That doesn�t mean 
there aren�t defects in the software, but rather, your customers are not 
finding them.

To incorporate this strategy into your testing, testers need domain Knowledge
(http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol2/no9/vol2no9.html). Armed with domain
knowledge, testers can put themselves in their customer�s shoes and do what
customers do. This helps find the most important defects - the ones your
customers would find... 

- Read more about Act Like A Customer Testing(TM)... 
  (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol2/no4/vol2no4.html)

A MEASURE OF QUALITY

How can you tell how good a job you are doing at Acting Like a Customer in 
your testing? The most straightforward way is a simple metric developed by 
Capers Jones, called Defect Removal Efficiency. [4]

- Read more about defect-removal efficiency metric...
  (http://www.swqual.com/newsletter/vol2/no9/Capers.pdf)

Simply count the number of defects found during your normal development 
and testing process and then divide that by that same number PLUS those 
defects reported by customers during some predefined usage period... 

    Total defects we find
    ----------------------
    Total we find + Customer-reported defects

Most shrink-wrap software has a Defect Removal Efficiency of between 
70-80%. Best-in-class companies such as H-P and Motorola typically have 
defect removal efficiencies of 99.5% or higher. The higher the defect 
removal efficiency metric, the better your test cases are at finding those 
defects that customers are likely to find. 

THE BOTTOM LINE....

Help your organization adopt a quality culture by developing a vocabulary 
for talking about quality in the context of your products and from the 
perspective of your customers. Once you have this vocabulary, derive a few 
simple measures - Defect Removal Efficiency is a good example. From these 
few measures, management can then begin to make better business decisions 
and your customers will thank you with their loyalty...

�Til next time...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Monthly Morsels ***

Every month in this space, you�ll find additional information related to 
this month�s topic.

References

1 Minasi, M., Software Conspiracy: Why Companies Put Out Faulty Software, 
  How They Can Hurt You and What You Can Do About It, McGraw-Hill, 1999. 

2 Helliker, K., and Stoll, J., �Malibu Shows Road to Recovery Is Bumpy�, 
  Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2009.

3 Krasner, H. �Using the Cost of Quality Approach for Software�, 
  CrossTalk, November, 1998. 

4 Jones, C., �Software Defect Removal Efficiency�, IEEE Computer, April 
  1996. 

5 Weier, M. H. , �Consortium Confronts Software-Quality Issues�,
  InformationWeek, May 26, 2003.
  (http://www.informationweek.com/;jsessionid=W1JGSI2MKDC3WQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN)

6 �The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Infrastructure for Software 
  Testing�, NIST Planning Report 02-3, May 2002.

7 Humphrey, W., �Defective Software Works�, news@sei newsletter, Number 1, 
  2004.
  (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/news-at-sei/columns/watts_new/2004/1/watts-new-2004-
  1.htm)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** Calendar ***

Every month you�ll find news here about local and national events that 
are of interest to the software community...

- Software Quality Calendar 

  There are many organizations that sponsor monthly meetings, workshops, 
  and conferences of interest to software professionals. Find out what�s 
  happening...
  (http://www.swqual.com/links/upcoming.html)

- Workshops Offered by Software Quality Consulting 

  Software Quality Consulting offers workshops in many topics related to 
  software process improvement. Get more info...
  (http://www.swqual.com/seminars/courses.html)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** About SQC ***

Software Quality Consulting provides consulting, training, and auditing 
services tailored to meet the specific needs of clients. We help clients 
fine-tune their software development processes and improve the quality of 
their software products. The overall goal is to help clients achieve 
Predictable Software Development(TM) � so that organizations can consistently 
deliver quality software with promised features in the promised timeframe. 

To learn more about how we can help your organization, visit our web site
(http://www.swqual.com/index.html?AboutSQC) or send us an email
([email protected]).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this newsletter has been informative and helpful. Your comments and 
feedback are most welcome. Send me your feedback... 

Thanks,

Steve Rakitin
[email protected]

Food for Thought, Predictable Software Development, Act Like a Customer,
and ALAC are trademarks of Software Quality Consulting, Inc.
Copyright 2009. Software Quality Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.
Graphic design by Sarah Cole Design.