In this episode, the Curiosity team, Ben Riley, James Walker and Paul Wright, talk about the importance of decoding the software development life cycle and how to foster a holistic approach to quality.

James Walker describes his approach to holistic quality, through the inner and outer loop concept. The inner loop encompasses developer activity, and the outer loop focuses on the essential organisational processes. This approach helps address root causes of inefficiencies rather than quick fixes. Quick fixes like automation can exacerbate issues if not coupled with a deep understanding of root causes.

James Walker refers back to his well received LinkedIn blog post related to requirements not being good enough. The team also touches on why automation receives a bad rep, why it’s better to make early actions over reactive measures to shore up quality and to avoid silver bullet fixes.

Referring to their training for a marathon, James and Ben talk about the need to overcome challenges and pain points, and liken this to success in software development. Assuring quality is not about speed just to look productive, but about laying the foundation for long-term success. Committing to the challenge in the software development journey is about aligning your core developer activity with essential organisations processes.