Quality control in a startup software project
Pohja, Mikko Johannes
Permanent address of the item is
Laadunhallinta startup-yrityksen ohjelmistoprojektissa
Progress in modern software development has enabled tiny prototypes that can be implemented with small budget and short schedule. Since proving the business ideas with fast prototyping has become so easy, the number of startup companies has begun to grow. A team with sufficient experience can implement a simple working prototype as fast as in weeks. Development of these simple prototypes can lead to poor quality of code and structure of the product, which can complicate the future development. This can become an issue if the business idea is indeed validated and proven to be successful. Additionally in startup environment, product quality usually means the value it brings to the customer. Because of this, continuous validation of quality is required throughout the life cycle of the product. This thesis discusses software quality in both traditional software development and software startup environment. Methods traditionally used for improving quality and their efficiency are presented. These methods are also joined to the quality methods recommended for software startup environment. Finally, this thesis presents an example project done for a software startup. Conclusions from this thesis include that the definition of quality and methods improving it vary between traditional software development and modern startup environment. In traditional software development, methods for improving quality are focused on technical activities discovering defects. In turn, modern methodologies concentrate more on people and processes. However, activities from traditional quality improvement can be applied to the methods recommended for startup environment.