Let’s improve quality is heard so often though that it’s easy for the concept to become background noise.

Can you truly track quality though?

Before we can say if quality can be tracked, we have to define what it is.

What is Quality?

[Quality] – The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; The degree of excellence of something.

As with any definition, the definition of ‘software quality’ is also varied and debatable.

Some even say that ‘quality’ cannot be defined and some say that it can be defined but only in a particular context.

Some even state confidently that ‘quality is lack of bugs’.

Whatever the definition, it is true that quality is something we all aspire to.

Can Quality Be Tracked?

Personally I don’t think you can track quality on it’s own.

You can track the evidence of quality. You can track other things that might suggest that you have a quality system.

Quality itself is to subjective to be measured.

So if you can’t really track quality what should you do.

The requirements are a good place to start. They give you something to aim for. If you the requirements aren’t meet then quality is out the window.

When quality is defined by how well the software meets the requirements, “Measuring” quality can then be done through testing.

So lets not track quality, but track how every requirement is tested.