'Quality in software critical'

"The commitment to quality literally starts at the highest level and the CEO's commitment is mandatory for success of any major quality initiative. This entire process should be made part of managers' and staff objectives and there should be leadership by example at every level," J Veeraraaghavan, MD, Novell Software India told the International Quality Conference 2005, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC).

An enterprise should adopt a comprehensive view towards quality and should have buy-in from all stakeholders on this issue rather than by force.

"Management committee, implementation in spirit, education, team work, effective communication and involvement, alignment of all functions to quality measures, besides inculcating a data driven culture as against impressions and guesses should be observed for the quality initiative to click in an organisation," he noted.

Dwelling on the strategies to address challenges in adopting a quality culture, he said that focus should be on process objectives than process adherence.

"There should be a functional organisation for expertise and independence and focus on what is or needs to be practised pertinent to the business than general project management skills," Veeraraaghavan highlighted.

Aspects like defining key measures to be tracked at a company level and operational reviews and action planning should be based on performance and not on impressions, he stressed.