Google on Software Quality
published on 2024/08/15
Our theory provides a more nuanced view of quality, which we hope leads to better outcomes when in discussions about how to improve software quality by ensuring that all participants are referring to the same thing. If the team is trying to improve product quality, this might indeed require improving process quality and code quality, but everyone needs to be aware that product quality is the end goal, and the connection between the changes being made and product quality needs to be clear. While increasing test coverage might help product quality a little bit, the connection is farther away. It might be better to focus on (and measure the impact of) changes to system quality. Meanwhile, if the team is concerned with code quality, there is a different set of metrics to consider, and focusing on improved process quality might be in order. The actions taken to improve software quality—and the metrics to measure it—depend on which type of quality we want to improve.