ISO/IEC 25010 organizes software quality into two dimensions: product quality and quality in use. By considering both product quality and quality in use, organizations can adopt a holistic approach to software quality assurance, ensuring that their products meet technical specifications and deliver value and satisfaction to end-users.

Originally derived from the earlier ISO/IEC 9126 standard, ISO/IEC 25010 offers a more comprehensive and updated framework for evaluating software characteristics and sub-characteristics.

Performance Efficiency involves the optimization of resource utilization concerning the performance output of a system or product.

Effectiveness refers to how software enables users to achieve specific goals wholly and accurately within a given context. It focuses on the software's ability to facilitate successful task completion and attain desired outcomes, ultimately contributing to user productivity and satisfaction.

It does not provide a comprehensive and systematic mapping of sub-characteristics to software metrics. That’s because individual circumstances matter most. For example, code quality for automated high-frequency trading software has an entirely different range of consequences than code quality for embarked software used on aircrafts.

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Satisfaction reflects users' subjective perceptions and feelings regarding their interaction with the software. It encompasses usability, aesthetics, and emotional responses, influencing user engagement, loyalty, and overall satisfaction with the software experience.

Unlike product quality, which is evaluated based on predefined criteria, quality in use is subjective and context-dependent. It requires gathering feedback from users and stakeholders to understand their experiences, preferences, and needs.

Maintainability evaluates a product or system's ease of modification to enhance, correct, or adapt to environmental or requirement changes.

Reliability focuses on the dependability of a system, product, or component in executing predefined functions under stipulated conditions.

Compatibility assesses a product, system, or component's ability to exchange information and perform its functions seamlessly within a shared hardware or software environment.

By examining product quality characteristics, organizations can better understand their software's strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to make informed decisions about enhancements, optimizations, and future development efforts.

Efficiency pertains to optimizing resources and effort expended by users in accomplishing tasks with the software. It emphasizes minimizing the time, energy, and cognitive load required to achieve desired outcomes, enhancing user productivity and overall system performance.

Freedom from risk refers to how well software mitigates or eliminates potential hazards, errors, or adverse consequences arising from its use. It ensures user safety, data integrity, and protection against security threats, enhancing user trust and confidence in the software's reliability and security.

Functional Suitability pertains to the capability system or computer program to deliver functions that precisely address both explicit and implicit user requirements.

Let’s take a deep dive into the product quality model ISO/IEC 25010, unraveling its significance and shedding light on how your software development team can use it to unlock excellence and uphold code quality standards.

Quality in use, on the other hand, moves focus from the inherent characteristics of the software product to its effectiveness and satisfaction in real-world usage scenarios. When interacting with the software in its intended environment, it considers user satisfaction, productivity, efficiency, and safety factors.

Product quality refers to the inherent characteristics of the software product itself. It encompasses functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability. These characteristics are evaluated based on predefined criteria and metrics to assess how well the software meets its intended quality requirements and objectives.

There are many software quality models and frameworks for measuring software quality. One of the most commonly adhered to is the ISO/IEC 25010 Software Quality Model, which offers a comprehensive framework to evaluate and improve software product quality.

Ensuring software quality today is paramount. From seamless user experiences to robust functionality, software quality directly impacts user satisfaction, organizational efficiency, and even safety critical systems.

The ISO/IEC 25010 Software Quality Model, developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), provides a systematic approach to assessing and measuring software quality.

Context coverage evaluates the software's suitability and adaptability across various usage contexts and environmental conditions. It considers factors such as the diversity of users, tasks, and operating environments, ensuring that the software remains practical and usable across different scenarios and user groups.

ISO 25010 is an excellent addition for enterprise software teams who want a framework evaluating software product quality. By breaking down quality characteristics into sub-characteristics, developers can go on to define software metrics that make sense for their projects.

Product quality relates to the static and dynamic properties of the software proper. It is divided into eight characteristics.