“Software Capital” The Pursuit of Quality, from the newly published book, Beyond Agile.

[From Chapter Ten, Beyond Agile, A book by Jesse Tayler with Alex Cone —a must read for anyone with a stake or interest in the outcome of software production.]

We see how cyclic scheduling fosters team spirit and shared responsibility. We appreciate the importance of design, documentation and visibility. We understand how sensible Testing is a bargain when economically balanced. This leaves one remaining matter: Software Quality.

But what exactly is Software Quality?

“Software Capital” is a term first coined by American Computer Scientist, Dean Zarras who cited software’s astronomical capacity to provide broadly useful foundations. “The bottom line with Software Capital is better business solutions, delivered faster” —states Zarras, in his foresightful 1996 paper, republished by Hacker Noon, here.

Quality can be viewed as available capital, an absence of bugs, or lack of technical debt perhaps, but this is not the whole story. 

Quality is often seen, incorrectly, as a luxury. To some, Quality is what you sacrifice for the benefit of greater progress at lower cost. 

The reality is far more subtle.

The most successful software development groups passionately rely on an organizational commitment to Quality. It is Quality which these groups use to precisely and accurately accelerate development, mature feature production and improve overall project performance. These groups take an interest in “Software Capital” and they expend resources in so doing. 

How do these groups expend greater resource, while also expecting to outperform?

Let’s take a step back and consider the very nature of Software Quality. At its core, Quality is a pursuit. Quality is both an activity and an investment. 

Quality is the will behind extending ourselves and our effort. 

Quality is the mortar holding the bricks of our Cathedral, the fabric that binds it all together. 

It is this pursuit of Quality that provides the very energy we sense within Cycles. It is this flow of energy we tap into for effective turn of phase. Without this pursuit, your software construction engine runs dry.

Quality is a software concept which is embodied within the physical world. The building up of software assets, tackling of software deficit even agility itself —these are all results of Quality. 

Software developers must become architecturally mindful to efficiently detect, isolate, and resolve structural deficiencies before they manifest as visible artifacts. 

It is this forward moving effort of design and enquiry, that requires fuel to persist.

The reasons behind this effect are largely self-evident. Like salt in soup, problems become more intractable as the lifecycle of the codebase matures. This results in ever greater effort being required for progress to be maintained. 

“If we want to be serious about quality, it is time to get tired of finding bugs and start preventing their happening in the first place.” —Alan Page, American Computer Scientist

Unlike software itself, Quality is part of the natural energy system we, as human beings take part in. Quality is the force we sense pushing us through the change in phase.

In terms of Software Capital, it turns out this relentless pursuit of Quality is what really provides the inertia we’re looking for. In a sense the best software is attainable only alongside the pursuit of Quality, and thus it is Quality in which we are investing our effort.

Forces in Motion

External pressures from real-world requirements are what drive software construction. The call of urgency and the pressure of schedule are held in place by the power of Quality. This is the balanced equilibrium that we sense when Cycles are at their height of efficiency. 

During software construction these three critical forces: schedule, urgency and quality mix together and combine. It is the balance between these forces which sets speed and trajectory. This mixture provides the fuel we use to advance our position and offers us the control we exert to navigate. 

These laws regarding the software universe and its relationship to the real world, are the very heart and soul of software construction. Quality is both the lever, and the valve we use to direct construction with precision, symmetry and stability.

Lastly, Quality is something that everyday users can truly sense and appreciate. Engineers realize the production benefits of Quality, and ultimately your commercial stakeholders will appreciate the benefits as well.

“Quality. Up yours.”

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Read more about the new trend in software construction methods that is taking over efforts large and small. Beyond Agile is the book that sums up this new spirit and ushers in the awakening of this new era. Take advantage of expert knowledge and make your software teams happier and more productive than you ever imagined was possible.

beyondagilethebook.com