Trust, security, comfort, or even positive surprise: if you have ever experienced these feelings when hiring a service or using a product, it was probably because it met or exceeded your expectations. And if a product has reached this level, you believe it is of high quality.

In the article we published here on the blog about testing, we highlighted how it greatly helps build trust in a product or service. In application development, we call testing what other industrial segments have already named "inspections"; it is no wonder that the first half of the 20th century is known as the "Age of Inspection" by Quality Management researchers in the field of Scientific Management.

Quality has become the most important attribute of a product or service, both due to consumer demand and the initiative of companies themselves. Meeting and, if possible, exceeding customer expectations has become a must in the context of competitive markets in all sectors.

On the part of companies, the focus on quality has a long history, and we will tell you a little about it in this text, in addition to highlighting how Quality Management applies to the software industry! Follow along with us!

A little history

Checking the quality of a service or product is something we have been doing for hundreds of years. The most primitive "technique" for checking quality is performed daily, and you probably do it too: direct observation.

Let's imagine a visit to the supermarket. When you pick up a product from the shelf, do you inspect it before putting it in your basket or cart? If the product is packaged, do you check for damage? If the packaging is translucent, do you check that the product inside looks okay? If you answered "yes" to all these questions, you inspect products.

These were the first quality control practices to be implemented in companies. From the end of the 19th century and throughout practically the entire first half of the 20th century, inspection took place exactly as we have described, on a sample of items coming off the end of the production line.

With the end of World War II and the competition to conquer and secure new markets in a world divided into two modes of production—capitalist and socialist—Western companies sought methods to ensure the quality of all products. To achieve this, a more holistic approach was needed, one that considered:

• Planning and design → Quality is a factor that must be considered from the planning stage, through to the construction of the project.
• Production stages → The production method impacts the final quality of the product or service. All production activities must be inspected to ensure quality.
• Specifications → The production process must follow specifications so that errors are minimized. This involves written procedures, strict measurements of raw material usage, and standardized work activities.
• Independent quality inspection → Quality inspection activities must be performed by independent individuals who are not part of the production teams, so that the requirement to meet production targets does not override quality verification.

Today, many of these principles are still followed. However, with increasingly stringent government regulations and even more competitive markets, ensuring quality was no longer enough. Quality had to be total.

It is in this context that international standards have emerged, requiring companies to meet quality standards in order to be certified. The best-known standards are those of the International Organization for Standardization, which issues ISO standards. The famous ISO 9001 standard has become the most widely recognized quality standard in the world.

Quality in application development

As in other segments, quality management became an increasingly important guideline in the software industry. An event that drew attention to the importance of applying quality standards was the NATO Conference on Software Engineering, held in 1968. Nine years later, with the publication of "The Art of Software Testing"by Glenford Myers, the topic became firmly established in the industry. The book remains a reference on quality management in digital product development to this day.

In an increasingly digitized world and in the midst of the artificial intelligence era, today's software industry not only follows quality standards; it sets them. The pursuit of quality has become a process of continuous improvement, with ongoing refinement becoming the guiding principle for companies at the forefront of systems development.

Here at Inmetrics, we work to bring quality to every phase of the systems development lifecycle, from conception to maintenance. Our working method eliminates the boundaries between testing, development, and operations to increase deployment speed, reduce time to market, and ensure the highest possible ROI.

Quality is such a decisive factor in our work that we have been identified as a leading company in Continuous Testing in ISG Provider Lens™ Next-Gen ADM Services Brazil 2022, as well as being highlighted in the Product Challenger quadrant in Application Quality Assurance. This recognition certifies us as a company that is fully capable of delivering highly reliable applications. Our expertise in testing ensures quality at every stage.

If your company needs tools that, in addition to being totally focused on the customer experience, are highly reliable and secure, contact us and speak to one of our specialists! From design to development, we will design and develop your application to exceed user expectations and needs.