Quality is Everyone’s Responsibility

There are so many role involves in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and it is next to impossible to assign responsibility against all roles within the development team and this is where initiative comes into picture. Quality is one of the main factor in SDLC as it has direct relation with end users and when we speak about quality then one question comes into mind, i.e. “who is responsible for Quality?” As so many times we came across a statement like ‘I am developer and testing is not my responsibility’, I have developed X module, why should I test Y module as it was not even in scope! This makes for a really bad practice. Quality is everyone’s responsibility as it measures output of a company not an individual.

Always remember this example that “if your family has to be happy then you can’t assign a person in your family a role and responsibility of happiness and blame that person if something goes wrong”. If you want your family to be happy forever then it has to be happen with everyone participating in it!

Similar thing apply to product quality! If you want your product or project to be successful then everyone must have equal responsibility towards it. Quality is not a one time activity, it is a continuous process. It is not the result of efforts from a single person but it is team’s effort. We have to make it a habit of delivering quality product, that is how a new brand is born into the market and known for its standards. Quality is not an act! It is a habit!  We have to develop a culture of delivering quality products. You have to develop this culture not only in your work life or product you are developing but you need to develop this in your daily routine and this is how you can leave a Quality Life and develop a Quality Culture!

One example I would like to give here to all of you at this time of Diwali in India is that we all love shopping and we all are shopping for Diwali for items including clothes, shoes, watches etc…Have you ever compromise if the fitting of your clothes is not good? If the shoes you like is not having the size you fit into! I believe you would never purchase such things! Then why are you forcing your customers to purchase, buy or accept such products from yourselves or your company!! They are also paying you for this!  This is how we can built trust with our customers! Have you ever gone back to the same place from where you bought faulty product or not good quality items? So in a similar way Customers won’t come back to us if we don’t deliver good quality products!

Quality groups cannot control quality. They can help people to get quality right. They can give people information that helps understand the voice of customer.

In the end, the output of quality is primarily the result of all the people in the organisation so rather than blaming each other, let’s work as a team and deliver what is exactly needed. After all, there is only one team, and we’re all in it.