Life after ISO 9001: British Telecom´s approach to software quality

This article explores the work that has been done to build on having a documented and understood process of software development. Observation across a large number of projects run to ISO 9001 standards has been used to develop a framework for assessing the fitness of a software project. This is based on three key areas that combine to yield true quality, people, product, and process. The authors review their experience with process based assessment methods. A short description of each is given, along with the main lessons that have been learned through their application. They concentrate on approaches that have been in used for some time and are mature. They build on the lessons of using process assessment as a lever to improve software quality. From their experiences observing a large number of real projects, they found that a more rounded set of criteria are required to assess real quality.<>