There is obvious value in quality. Fewer bugs, less downtime, and increased user trust. Better retention, lower costs, and more revenue. Quality allow steams to move faster and scale quicker. The value is in the bottom line.
But then there is the value of quality the core belief that quality matters beyond immediate metrics or financial gains and quality as a fundamental principle that shapes an organization's ethos and processes.
The latter begets the former. If quality isn't a cultural imperative, then, overtime, it will be eclipsed by expediency and short-term pressures.
How do you create a culture of quality? Leadership. If leadership doesn't take quality seriously and see the importance of process, automation, and testing, you don't get the value of quality.
The web abounds with stories of Steve Jobs' obsession with quality. But the most prescient quote comes from his father,
"For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carriedall the way through."
Within software, when we think of quality, what do we think? A beautiful frontend, replete with intuitive user interfaces, smooth animations, and pixel-perfect designs? But true quality goes far deeper. Crafting software with quality permeating every function means every team has to engineer to the highest standards.
This means product management must set clear, user-centric goals. Architects must build a scalable, maintainable foundation. Designers must create thoughtful user experiences. Backend engineers must build robust, intuitive APIs, and DevOps must ensure smooth deployments and uninterrupted quality.
The same bar is required for testing. What does craftsmanship mean in testing? It means going beyond a checklist of test cases to a deep, almost obsessive commitment to uncovering every potential flaw. It's about crafting tests with the same care and attention to detail as the software itself.
This might all look like:
These tests embody craftsmanship in testing by going beyond basic functionality checks. They consider real-world usage, edge cases, performance under stress, and inclusivity. By automating these comprehensive checks, the team can maintain high-quality standards consistently across the entire application.
All wonderful in theory. But without leadership, none of this will happen.
With leadership, testing and quality can become not just a phase or a team's responsibility but a fundamental aspect of engineering that permeates all decisions, processes, and actions. It's elevated to being a core value that drives technical and business decisions.
How?
Without this, nothing else works. This might look like a CEO who doesn't just talk about shipping features but obsesses over user experience metrics. Or a CTO who celebrates improved test coverage with the same enthusiasm as a successful product launch. It's about making quality a part of your company's mission, not just a department.
Pragmatically, leaders will need to:
This vision cascades down, influencing sprint planning, code review processes, and release criteria.
This is where leaders need to unleash their Jobsian side. Jobs would throw away Apple chips if the traces weren't straight enough. Engineering leaders have to be equally obsessed with getting everything right and show this concretely. This might look like:
The flip side of leading by example is trusting the team enough to step aside and trust them to put quality first. This should be more than just lip service-it's about creating an environment where quality is everyone's responsibility, not just QA's job.
This means:
This trust creates a sense of ownership and pride in the quality of the work, often leading to innovations in testing and quality assurance that top-down mandates can never achieve.
Finally, leaders must give the team the tools and resources they need to push the testing bar higher. You must invest in your team's ability to deliver quality.
Every dollar spent on quality isn't a cost it's an investment in your product's future.
Leadership's role in this can't be overstated. Do you think the same vein of perfection flowed through CrowdStrike as it did Apple? By setting the vision, leading by example, fostering trust, and providing resources, leaders create an environment where quality isn't just a goal it's just what engineering is.