Going soft on quality? Process management in the Scottish software industry

Despite their proliferation within the industry, quality assurance standards are insufficient to ensure effective software development. Scottish software companies are now highly sensitive to limitations imposed by the standards movement, nagging the need for more explicit attention to work organization and human resource issues. This article examines efforts to broaden the focus of quality management within the software industry, charting the impact of theoretical and practical initiatives and identifying the mediating role of commercial pressures, the consultancy marketplace and, crucially staff reactions.