The best thing about software is its flexibility: it can be programmed to do almost anything. The worst thing about software is also its flexibility: the “almost anything” characteristic has made it difficult to plan, monitor, and control software development.

Walker Royce, “Software Project Management”

Why is so much emphasis put on being able to repeat a process? I meet regularly with a group of quality managers; the emphasis of these meetings is usually on process. And normally on the process you use to manage the processes e.g. CMM, EFQM, ISO. I have tried on many occasions to point out that process is not quality. I have tried to explain that we don’t believe in certification for certification’s sake but that we are genuinely trying to improve the quality of the software we build. They smile at me and say, “But are your processes repeatable?” In actual fact they are but why is this the question that is always asked? Surely what matters is that the process is effective. What is the point of your process? What metrics do you use to measure the success of a process? How do you remove a faulty process? How do you improve a process? These are the things that interest me.

There is nothing that is a more certain sign of insanity than to do the same thing over and over and expect the results to be different.

Albert Einstein