Seven Pragmatic Practices To Improve Software Quality

All software has bugs. Application development teams do the best they can to avoid and fix them. But developing quality software is hard. Why? Virtually all application development teams are squeezed by the need to develop and change applications faster, but few have the time to implement a full-blown, guru-based quality program. What they need are shortcuts — pragmatic changes that application development teams can make to improve software quality without getting the brass and rank and file in a tizzy. Forrester has identified seven pragmatic changes that can have a big impact on improving the quality of the software you deliver to the business: 1) define quality to match your needs; 2) broadcast simple quality metrics; 3) fine-tune team and individual goals to include quality; 4) get the requirements right; 5) test smarter to test less; 6) design applications to lessen bug risk; and 7) optimize the use of testing tools.