“Enough is enough already…”

The Webster dictionary is very nebulous on the subject of quality. It provides definitions ranging from “a peculiar or essential feature” to “an inherent feature” to “a distinguishing attribute.” The IEEE has the following definition of quality “The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service bear on its ability to satisfy given needs.” While this definition was meant to be applied to software, it is general enough that it may be used in other areas. Also it is much more useful because it is tied to expectations. When is the product certifiably of the highest quality? Answer, never! When is a product tested enough? Answer, nearly never! What about the process testing aspects where a product is never tested but is inferred to be good by measuring process parameters? As the definition implies, quality is a balancing of the conflicting requirements between customer´s expectations, his boss´ expectations, and market forces. If he fails in maintaining this balance, he fails at his job, However, there exists instances where a balance is impossible. Conveniently, most are never faced with this conflict, because the consequences are never evaluated. An example this philosophy is given using the FAA ready for issue test