Principle 1: Quality is #1

A customer will not tolerate a product with poor quality, regardless of the definition of quality. Quality must be quantified and mechanisms put into place to motivate and reward its achievement. It may seem politically correct to deliver a product on time, even though its quality is poor, but it is politically correct in the short term only; it is political suicide int the middle and long term. There is no trade-off to be made. The first requirement must be quality.

Edward Yourdon suggests that you

“Just say no”

when you’re asked to speed up testing, ignore a few bugs, or code before agreeing on a design or a set of requirements

References

[1] Yourdon, E., Decline and Fall of the American Programmer, Englewood Cliffa, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1992.