Software Quality In a Non-Software Company?

Nicros writes "I work for a publicly traded biotech company that happens to write software that is, in fact, kind of critical for the business — without it no data would ever be read from our instruments, and no analyses would be performed on that data. The problem is that as a 'biotech' company, we are not taking software quality seriously. We have no senior management with any history of commercial software development — our C level has really no clue whatsoever what software really is, much less what is going on in software development. All of our quality processes are related to manufacturing our system (not software), so we are constantly forced into ad-hoc development since there is no real process for our development. Repeated requests to hire someone with some real commercial software development experience have gone unanswered. I have been to the CEO directly one-on-one and although he agreed this was an issue, thanked me, and said he would look into it, that was the end of it. He has bigger things to worry about. So the question: Is this just a fact of life and I need to deal the best I can? What else can I do to get some attention on software quality in the company?"

Comments

Steal all the computers and skip the country...

[apathy maybe]

Nah seriously, do you even have a proper IT person/team? Do you have an effective back up system in place?

Maybe you could (after making sure that the back ups can be restored in the event of disaster), trash all the source for the software (making sure that it can't be associated with you of course). When the bosses notice that the entire company is going to go under because this "software" that they don't know anything about is gone, restore the back up and make the case again...

Another option is to have the entire crew refuse to write any more software (go on strike), especially if it isn't detailed in your contract as a duty. You may even get a pay rise out of it.

So yeah, there are three options (leave, strike and sabotage). Try one, then the other, and finally the third (not in the order I present them in of course). As always, keep your CV up to date and have decent savings.

Re:Plant a bug

[apathy maybe]

That's called sabotage, and if you are going to do this, make sure it can't be traced back to anyone, let alone you.

And because that is hard, maybe try my idea of trashing back ups (above), it's easier to hide your tracks...