Improving Code Quality

Everyone in software development supports the goal of producing high-quality code. And yet, long-term observations in the field by the Software Improvement Group (SIG) reveals that many organizations don’t have the necessary resources or institutional processes to make it happen. In this report, you’ll learn how 1,442 software developers responded to a 2016 survey on code quality conducted by SIG in collaboration with O’Reilly. The results reinforce previous findings that, although code quality is valued in principle, software development organizations often measure and manage it unevenly—or not at all—in their day-to-day practices. This report provides a detailed assessment of responses to survey questions about working environments, accountability for code quality, and the use of code quality processes and tools. Major findings reveal that: A large majority of respondents believe that accountability for code quality rests with individual developers and their teams. Most developers don’t use tools for improving software quality, largely because they lack the budget to acquire them. Many developers can’t rely on common code quality tools because those tools don’t support the technologies and languages they use. Other developers are simply unaware of available tools, or are working with teams that have never used them. How does your organization and development team stack up against these survey results? Compare your coding habits to the questions in this report and learn about your own code quality efforts and capabilities.