The Affordances of Quality

What if your development process made quality the easiest option? Learn how to design systems where doing the right thing is the path of least resistance.

#1about 5 minutes

Understanding affordances through everyday object design

The concept of affordances, which determine what actions are easy, is introduced using examples like well-designed doors and messy desks.

#2about 3 minutes

Removing the QA column from your workflow board

A dedicated QA column on a task board acts as a bad affordance, making it too easy to defer quality concerns instead of building them in.

#3about 5 minutes

Why a testable system is a well-designed system

Making testability a first-class design concern leads to systems that are modular, observable, and simple, which are also hallmarks of good design.

#4about 6 minutes

Using continuous delivery to enable business agility

Continuous delivery transforms releases from a complex, technical bottleneck into a simple, repeatable business decision.

#5about 3 minutes

How frequent releases increase both speed and safety

Releasing software frequently makes the process practiced and reliable, demonstrating that speed and safety are complementary, not contradictory.

#6about 2 minutes

The evolution of QA from gatekeeper to enabler

The modern QA role shifts from being an adversarial gatekeeper to a collaborative enabler who helps teams build affordances for quality into their process.