When Politics Overshadow Software Quality

The following is a familiar scenario: management, feeling pressure from corporate headquarters and the marketplace, dictates that a product will be released ahead of the agreed-upon schedule. This is an all-too-common example of a company's political climate in which influential people base their desire for success more on personal agendas than on quality. This scenario illustrates two key issues: the frustrations involved in producing quality products and the conflicts between self and team. How would you balance the quality and time-to-market equation? Software quality is subject to the politics of control, position, and power. These, in turn, affect what questions are asked, who may ask them, and what the "right" questions are. When all these political factors--control, position, power, and questions--converge, the politics of communications and marketing come into play. These determine what people hear and how interaction styles affect outcomes. Everyone in the corporate hierarchy must consider these political realities. They aren't just for management.