IT Product Quality in Practice as Knowledge and Experience

IT quality, e.g. software quality, use quality, information systems quality, is a current but problematic issue. The proliferation and increased complexity of information systems and software have introduced new quality problems. The current wisdom is to solve these problems trough a standardised and controlled process with conformance to the requirement specification as the main goal. The objective is to reach non-subjective quality management. On the results from an empirical investigation into IT professionals’ perception of IT quality in practice, this paper argues for an alternative approach based on knowledge and assessment ability grounded in experience and reflection. The conclusion is that IT quality is a complex of aspects, perspectives, and stakeholders, and that important qualities of information systems do not lend them selves to normative approaches. This requires professionalism in the form of subjective assessment ability and the paper is concluded with some proposals for how the assessment ability can be strengthened.