What is Software Quality?

What is software quality? Well, the answer is that it depends on who you are asking.

If you ask the user of the software, you will most likely get answers like, “it does what I expect it to do”, “easy to use”, “no bugs”, “fast in response”, and “reliable”. If you ask the IT-guy, you will get answers like, “easy to install”, “secure”, and “regularly updated”. If you ask the CFO of a company, you will hear “cheap” or “high return of investment”. If you ask the software developer, you will get answers like, “readable code”, “understandable code”, “neatly coded”, “version-controlled”, and “proper design”. If you ask the project manager of this development project, you will get answers like “in time” and “within budget”.

This begs the question: who is right? I have got some news for you. All of them are right, exemplifying the diversity of software quality.