Software development is a competitive business, and as such, the software is competing with other software for hard-earned dollars. Enterprise Quality software has never been more important than it is today, and sophisticated tools such as static analysis and testing are the gateways to success.
In this article, we take a look at how some of the world’s largest companies approach quality through objective metrics, including some of the challenges they face and what they have learned from their experiences. If you work in software development or you aspire to work there one day, this article will be invaluable to your professional transformation journey.
What We Will Cover
We will provide you with an introduction to software quality metrics, including what is being done in the industry today, the benefits of testing, why unit tests are so important, when to use UAT and when to use UAT-like techniques such as CMU/SE practices. Then we will take a look at some of the most prominent companies in their respective industries. We will analyze how these companies do software and what they look for in their software (i.e., we will talk about code coverage, code complexity, and functional coverage) and we will examine how they prioritize requirements and what methodologies they use.
What To Expect From This Article
This article will introduce you to the basic concepts of software quality metrics and how to use them in your everyday job. We will show you how companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, IBM, and many others do software quality management, and we will analyze some of their metrics. You can expect some screenshots of the tools that these companies use for gathering information about their software (and at times writing new software), as well as tips on some of the basic tools that you can use in your daily job (from unit tests to static analysis). We also want to analyze how these companies prioritize requirements based on metrics like code coverage and code complexity. Let’s get started.
State of the Software Industry
We will take a look at how companies large and small do software development and what they look for in their applications. We will analyze the industry trend and show you some of the companies that we think are doing it right and some of the ones that need to improve. Let’s start with a short discussion on what is going on in today’s market from both a software developer’s perspective and an end user’s perspective.
For us, Software Quality is all about having your customer happy with your application. First, it must be easy to use, then it must be bug-free while running on thousands of different platforms. In other words, when something goes wrong, the user must be able to solve it without taking the application offline.
In this chapter, we will look at how companies do software quality management using different types of metrics. First, let’s take a look at our local market.
Local Market
The local insurance industry has over 4 million users and is responsible for over 5% of the total economy in Italy. The majority are small business owners or individuals covered either by an individual policy or an employer plan. They are not looking for a new car every month, but rather they are looking for insurance against life events such as theft, fire, earthquake, medical expenses, and many others. Insurance companies are facing huge competition on several fronts.
The first is from other insurance companies since the industry only operates in Italy. The second is from general retailers who are selling products on a monthly plan including new cars, vacations, holidays, and so on. New insurance companies are being born, while established ones have to find ways of attracting new customers.
Basic Concepts
When it comes to analyzing user behavior, the average consumer does not carry around a computer with sensors that can monitor everything happening in her car or house at all times. Market researchers must gather their data by using proxies for this data collection (such as phone calls or online surveys).
The insurance industry is traditionally very closed, but at the same time, it is not very innovative. The regulatory restrictions make it difficult for companies to innovate without first proving that their products are more efficient than their competitors (this is called risk-based pricing).
the Insurtech (innovation for insurance) movement wants to create an innovative insurance model. This movement does not want to defend the benefits of its product against the risks of car accidents or health conditions; instead, Insurtech wants to invent an innovative solution that combines the opportunity for savings with the opportunity for customers to buy unique services.
