Quality is not merely the absence of defects.

True quality is the presence of good design.

Quality of manufature is derived from eliminating defects which, in software, comes from continous automated testing. Quality of design comes from craftsmanship in over 30 years of experience, and a diversity of systems in a variety of domains.

Design

We strive to anticipate the needs of a project in advance of the need. We design systems that are flexible, robust, and which solve the problem well, not just adequately. Surprisingly this does not cost more, and often costs less, than a brute force design solution. All it takes is a bit of forethought, and a passion for great software.

Refactoring is an important tool, but you will never refactor your way into great software. For that you need great design.

Usability

Quality is not just about execution, or technical elegance, it is even more about software that works well for the user. Usability is not just about software that can be approached without a manual, it is about efficiently performing the task the 10,000th time. Web site usability is not just about completing tasks, but in drawing a user's attention into the site, into the content and the operation of the site.

Testing

We use several test tools to ensure defects are found as early as possible. We use the unit testing framework built into Rails, the seleniumrc_fu plugin for web browser based integration and UI testing with Selenium, manual testing by developers, usability testing with customers and acceptance testing by customers. Our goal is 0 defects.

Defect Tracking

All projects use a defect tracking system to ensure nothing is forgotten. Customers, developers, testers, and managers, all have access to the tracking system and all see the same status. This ensures the entire team knows where the project stands at any time and is focused on the right thing.