Quality

Quality is difficult to define, it's an abstract term, it requires continuous and dynamic adaptation of products and services to fulfill or exceed the requirements or expectations of all parties in the organization and the community as a whole.

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'Quality means conformance to requirements' (Philip Crosby, 'Quality Is Free'). It does not matter whether or not the requirements are articulated or specified; if a product does not fully satisfy, it lacks quality in some respect. ('Quality is binary -- you've either got it, or you haven't' -- ibid. Note that both these quotes are 'top-of-the-head' and therefore approximate.)

The starting-point for a 'quality product', therefore, is precise determination of the requirements of its users. This may not be possible in practice, but should still be attempted as best possible (see *Acceptable Quality Level*).

Note that the 'quality' of a product is the sum of multiple separate *Quality Attributes*.