I’m a quality engineer, so it probably goes without saying that I like gathering and analyzing data. Minitab and I spend a significant amount of time together. Some might say our relationship is unhealthy—perhaps even codependent.

But Minitab and I have been together for almost 20 years. That’s a long time for any relationship, especially one between a software application and an engineer. It’s that 20-year bond that makes it difficult for me to acknowledge when I can’t gather data for a particular attribute of quality. Sometimes it’s not an option. Sometimes it’s just not the best option. Either way, it’s not easy.

Case in point: Minitab runs an agile development shop. This means we begin testing very early in development and continually iterate between development and test. For this reason, developers are fixing bugs almost as quickly as we find them. That’s very good. Believe me, I don’t miss waterfall development at all.

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