Quality in the context of this article is not necessarily just about the quality of the software alone but also about the experience each person has in the software development process.

Not Everyone Has the Same Understanding of Quality

There are common stakeholders for any software development project or product. These are:

“Far too often, the rewards for our efforts seem to be mere pennies as held against the fortune of time and sacrifice spent attempting to earn them.” — Craig D. Lounsbrough.

The abstract nature of software development complicates costing. An idea in a person’s mind is abstract and until the idea is manifested into time and space it basically serves very little purpose. In majority of other fields, the process of bringing an idea to life is tangible and the progress being made can be seen and touched. For software, things are a little different. The ideas are intangible, the process of building is intangible, the progress being made in development is intangible, and the completed software itself is intangible. This is the core pain point for costing knowledge related work.