# Quality management ## Basic idea Quality is not bolted on — it must be designed in from the start. Quality management = QA (define standards) + QP (apply to project) + QC (audit conformance). ## Key facts * External quality (user-facing): correctness, reliability, usability. * Internal quality (developer-facing): cleanliness, performance, maintainability. * Empirically, QA pays for itself — defect cost grows by \~10× per phase you let it slip. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://isubasinghe.gitbook.io/isithas-wiki/software_engineering/quality_management/quality-management.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.