Software bugs and technical debt cost you time, money, and nerves. The solution is “higher quality”. Better code. Better architecture. Better tests. But the quality initiative is proving difficult, because somehow it just »doesn’t click«. Neither with the tooling, nor with the people.

How do you succeed here? How do others do it, and what can we learn from them?

To discover how effective teams improve software quality, I have worked with quality champions of various companies, including Vestas, Dolby, Rational, ProSiebenSat.1 and Allianz Technology. Surprisingly, despite the differing industries, technologies, and goals, their approaches share three key commonalities.

In my talk, I will explain what these three secret ingredients are and how we can practically implement them, using examples from the companies mentioned above and others. I will share best practices we continually encounter, and discuss the ultimate benefits that arise. My goal is to provide you with insights on how to systematically make sustainable quality improvement a success, even in long-lasting software.

Note: I gave a previous version of this talk in German as the Software Intelligence Talk »Vom Wiegen allein wird die Sau nicht fett« on March 11, 2025. Some of the examples changed. The overall message remains the same.