Software quality by management learning from the manufacturing industries

This article looks at software quality from a managerial point of view. Despite the wealth of literature about software quality and how it is measured, high quality software systems are still alarmingly rare. It is suggested that DP management should look to modern production management for a lesson in how to promote quality in their products. This in turn means observing Japanese methods of management, in particular the innovation of the early eighties — the quality circle. Also investigated is the suspicion that today's DP staff would be unwilling to accept changes that management may be forced to adopt to improve the quality of software systems.