Quality is what costs us money and what you pay for. Quality is measured as amount of defect-free functionality related to defective functionality. Quality is measured in percentages. Our contract says that 95% is acceptable Quality.

A Defect is a non-conformity of Deliverables to Specification. In other words, the software product does not work as specified. Defects shall be revealed by the project team before software product is delivered to you.

While you and end-users perceive Defects through software interfaces, the majority of Defects do not reside in software itself. This is where Defects normally lie (in order of severity):

1. Software development contract
2. Vision
3. SRS
4. Risk List
5. Schedule and Iteration Plans
6. Architecture
7. Design
8. Software code
9. Test Plan

Software code itself is one of the least critical components in the total Cost Of Quality structure. Defects in software code are the least expensive to remove.

There are a number of prevention methods we use in order to reveal and remove Defects before they become critical or fatal.

• Peer reviews of SRS, Schedule, Risk List and architecture
• Prototyping on early Iterations
• Strict guidelines and manuals for analysts and architects
• Industry standards and formats (UML, IEEE, ISO, RUP, XML, etc.)
• Periodical Quality Assurance (QA) audits

All prevention methods are used before unit-testing, system testing and manual testing. Prevention methods are performed by programmers and testers when software is being implemented.