Abstract: This talk considers the issue of quality and how it relates to software. Kitchenham presents David Garvin's definition of quality as a multi-faceted concept comprising five main viewpoints: Transcendental view of philosophy and art. Manufacturing view based in conformance to specification. User-view based on fitness for purpose. Product view based on the inherent characteristics of a product. Value view based on value for money. She considers the way current approaches to software quality and software quality measurement relate to these different views. She also discusses the SQUID approach to software quality. SQUID uses the concept of measurement to integrate standard approaches to quality models of the type recommended by ISO9126 and software development models comprising deliverables and the activities that produce them. In this way, SQUID attempts to address the user view, manufacturing view and the product view of quality.

Background

Barbara Kitchenham is a Principal Researcher in Software Engineering at Keele University. Her research interests are centered on software metrics and their application to project management, quality control, and evaluation of software technologies. She has worked both in industry and academia and has been involved with several joint national and international software engineering research projects. Her book "Software Metrics: Measurement for Software Process Improvement" was published in 1996. Kitchenham received a PhD from the University of Leeds. She is an associate fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications and a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

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