On Quality

Some tools are very popular with software developers while some just fizzle out. What accounts for this difference?

There are lots of variables that determine the stickiness of a tool (or even methodology). Here’s a sociological explanation for what sticks and why.

For something to become sticky as a development tool or methodology, it must have two kinds of utility — operational, political, and personal. (That’s my hypothesis.) Here’s how each breaks out.

1. Operational Utility – making it easier to do the job

   1. Ability to improve code quality

   2. Ability to improve development productivity

   3. Ability to improve communication and coordination

2. Political Utility – making it easier to defend how software gets made and delivered

   1. Symbolic – signal it sends to other developers and management

   2. Support/Confidence it provides that we’re doing things in a professional way

   3. Defense/Rationale – ability to use it to present, elaborate, and justify the work done to managers and senior executives (metrics, artifacts that show progress and establish that a robust methodology is being used)

3. Personal Utility — ability to enhance resume.

Have I missed any? Which ones are necessary? Which ones are sufficient?