How do you evaluate and compare alternative solutions based on quality attributes?

Quality attributed represent the appetite or expectations of the organisation towards quality, outputs and outcomes expected when a software or some other change project is delivered. In my opinion it is extremely important as it impacts customer experience, engagement and retention of users. For example if i ask for a car, i have included no NFRs and may be at the mercy of the suppliers opinion of a car. However if i provide more details, i will get something more aligned to my needs.

NFRs are a must have when integrating applications through APIs. Reliability: Uptime and fault tolerance needs RACI, who is responsible, accountable, who needs to be consulted like SREs and who needs to be informed like business stakeholders who bear the risk of failings. The RACI matrix should be baked into the requirements and the negotiation contract pertaining to data classification of information interchange. For example if its customer data then it’s restricted confidential, sales orders which contain pricing information also becomes restricted confidential class of data. The data classification should drive the necessary security protocols needed to be implemented, which usually gets ignored in the rush to deploy solutions

Quality attributes are critical especially when you design a product or service as sometimes depending on product owners and managers who primarily focus on the functionality and features often tend to miss the quality attributes which are critical in the product usage and adaptation making some of the best products fail in the market

Software Quality attributes, or technical requirements, are measurable and testable properties of the system and the way they satisfy the needs of a user. It is a set of features or properties to measure the performance and characterize how useful the software in a specific environment is. Main Software Quality attributes are :- 1.usability, 2.reliability, 3.functionality,4. portability, 5.maintainability, and 6.efficiency

Evaluating alternative solutions involves using quality metrics like throughput, availability, confidentiality, user satisfaction, and defects count. Throughput assesses system processing capacity, availability measures uptime, confidentiality evaluates data protection, satisfaction gauges user acceptance, and defects track system errors. These metrics offer a comprehensive view of how well a system performs beyond its functional requirements, guiding informed decision-making. From my experience, prioritizing these attributes according to project goals ensures the selection of solutions that align with both user needs and business objectives, optimizing performance and security.

Quality attributes are something which is not defined clearly however client expects and assumes that first. So in my opinion, those attributes of the system which holds a high relevance should be prioritize first. and based on system needs if speed is relevant then it should be put on High Priority but for some system performance or zero lag is much of High Priority attribute.