Software Quality

Software Quality is a concept has been discussed and defined in a number of excellent books and articles. Granular-Level specific characteristics are numerous, and the weight placed on one aspect may differ from company to company, or even from project to project. However, with the assistance of the Pfleeger and Atlee text (2006) and a text from Selby and Boehm (2009), we can examine several generic properties which are relatively universal.

• Portability
  This is a measure of how the degree of coupling with other software or hardware. Can the software be easily installed and transferred, or is there a complicated integration with 3rd-parties (eg. SQL Server, or a special hardware key-dongle)
• “AS-IS” utility
  Does the software require heavy customization once it is deployed to the customer?
  • Reliability
  • Efficiency
  • Human Engineering
• Maintainability
  In 2 years, will we be able to fix a problem or add new functionality?
  • Testability
  • Understandability
  • Modifiability

Human Factors

Bernard suggests that the most basic reason for an implementation to fail is due to inadequate training and preparation of the operators of the system. Having been involved in several different implementations of new software, I have seen both well-prepared and inadequately-prepared staff try to deal with new software. I would venture to say that Bernard is exactly right in saying that improper training is a huge reason why software does not succeed. It is my experience that users with a stake in the company don’t WANT to see software fail, but they will unintentionally sabotage the new initiative with “Well we always did it the other way” attitudes, if they don’t have a good reason to make the change.

References

Bernard, A. (December 26, 2003). Why Implementations Fail: The Human Factor.

Boehm, B. W. Quantitative Evaluation of Software Quality. In R. W. Selby, Ed. Software Engineering (p. 27). IEEE. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from Google Books.

Pfleeger, S. L. & Atlee, J. M. (2006). Why Software Engineering. Software Engineering Theory and Practice (3rd ed. pp. 9-11). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.