Software quality model based on development team characteristics

Many factors have a significant impact on producing high-quality software products. Development team members are among the most important factors. Paying attention to the quality from this perspective will be a good innovation in the software development industry. Given that team members play a very important role in software products, this study tries to focus specifically on team characteristics in software product quality and provide a qualitative model based on this. The required data were collected through observations and interviews with project managers and development team members in several companies under study. Then, data were analyzed through hierarchical analysis. According to the results, the use of this model led to the improvement of the software development process so that the team members were satisfied with it. Also, time management was improved, and the customer expressed his satisfaction with the use of this model. Finally, data analysis showed that this model may lead to faster product delivery.


INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the market for software development is growing, and software development companies are always trying to attract their customers in a competitive condition. This would be possible by providing up-to-date, simple, efficient, and convenient products. In the meantime, various standards and models have been developed to produce software that has good quality and performance [1], [2].
In addition to qualitative standards, the software development team must provide its best performance to produce a better-quality product. Therefore, the concept of quality, value, and its place in software engineering is very important. In addition to meeting the customers' needs, high-quality software should produce a software product in such a way that the conditions and costs of its development are also cost-effective for software companies.
There are several definitions of quality, including compliance with specifications and requirements [3], [4], customer satisfaction [5], [6], reliable and durable products [7], and so on. But in the meantime, there is a complete definition of quality as expressed by IEEE, software quality can be defined as the degree to which a system, component, or process meets specified requirements and the degree to which a system, component, or process meets customer or user needs or expectations [8]- [11]. Software quality assurance (SQA) is one of the most important parts of software quality. According to IEEE, software quality assurance is a means and practice of monitoring the software engineering processes and methods used in a project to ensure the proper quality of the software and can be independent of the project [12], [13]. − Culture of cooperation: refers to holding cultural ceremonies and rituals that are specific to a nation or culture, and others (other colleagues who are not familiar with those rituals and customs) can participate in it, such as holding Iftar ceremonies, special ceremonies of Hindu tribes. − Intra-team trust: the feeling of closeness in people and trust in each other.

Team factors
Team factors include team-related factors that have a significant impact on the teamwork quality. These factors include: − The amount of optimism to do the project: the number of people willing to do the project. − Establishing gender balance: the gender ratio (male and female) in a project. − Teamwork experience: the experience of individuals in a group in carrying out various projects. − Teamwork balance: existence of work balance between different teams. − Multitasking: each person on a team has to do several things. − Team self-organization: the degree to which individuals are free to form a team and take on responsibilities.

Organizational factors
The last part of the quality model focuses on the organization factors. These factors mainly focus on the structure of software companies and their credibility and position in the market. This part includes the following factors. − Work environment: physical workspace for team building and doing projects. (In terms of the type of decoration of the room or hall or work environment) − Telecommuting: the freedom of individuals to carry out their responsibilities without being present at work. − The degree of freedom of individuals in the team and work environment: freedom and authority of the individual to act without any restrictions, such as doing overtime arbitrarily. − Corporate reputation: the background and experience of the company in carrying out projects, as well as the ability to provide the necessary facilities and tools for employees to carry out projects, such as providing the necessary and up-to-date hardware platform for heavy computing. − Reward system: the financial ability of the company to pay the salaries and benefits of its employees on time.

Evaluation criteria
In this study, a questionnaire was designed to collect the required data. The questions were then shown to several software experts, including project managers, and were finally approved after some modifications. In the reliability section, Cronbach's alpha test was used to validate and evaluate the collected data; the result of this test was higher than 0.7 in all the cases.

Data collection
This study has been conducted in collaboration with four companies. In this study, interviews were conducted with two companies and consulted with the experts in this field, and cooperation was conducted with two companies by sending a questionnaire and conducting interviews. Questions are asked about the role of individuals and teams in the quality of the final product. The collected questions are obtained by studying previous articles in this field.
Of course, these questions became more complete later during conducting the interviews, as the interviewees themselves helped a lot in completing the type of questions based on their work experience and their answers. The reason for choosing these companies is their field of activity and work. First, interviews were conducted with participants, and then questionnaires were distributed among participants to answer. The research, both in the form of questions and answers and in the form of questionnaires, focused more on the role of individuals in the production and promotion of the final product and how the behavior of individuals in a team affects the final product and even this impact on customer behavior. Reflected and appears in the form of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Results
In this study, the required data were collected through the study and review of working documents, field observations, and interviews with project managers and programmers of several studied organizations, and the data were analyzed through hierarchical analysis. Factors affecting the software quality model proposed in this research, along with the weight of each, are presented in this section. An analysis of the responses received from the interviewees is also provided on each of the factors.

Individual factors
Individual dimension includes six factors experience, education, personality, adequacy-based individual sense, individual competence in terms of workflow, and individual skill level. Table 1  priority of each of the factors. In this group, the highest weight is assigned to the individual competence factor. What is important in Figure 2 is the degree of closeness of the indicators of experience, adequacybased individual sense, and individual competence. Individual competence refers to the individual's ability to manage and control the process of execution of work or project, which is achieved by cultivating individual skills, experience, and risk-taking in work (of course with proper knowledge and understanding and measuring all factors and shortcomings), being responsible, research and consulting. It is very important for a person to have a full understanding of that project in different projects and not to consider all the works and activities from one perspective. This factor can even be the driving force in the team since team members for any reason are discouraged or worried about the work process or may have doubts; this factor can be an obstacle for such issues and avoid wasting time, money, motivation, and so on. All factors of the individual dimension are interdependent and complementary in some way, and one cannot be preferred over the other. For example, experience, education, and personality are interdependent, like links in a chain, and growth and sublimity in each provide the suitable context for the progress of other factors. One of the interviewees, who is a manager of several projects, believes that self-confidence is one of the main pillars of this factor.
Adequacy-based individual sense is also one of the important factors in the formation of team personality of individuals. A person who has worked with different teams on several projects tends to have the self-confidence to work in new fields as well. Experience in the team is very important. In an interview with experts, one of the project managers emphasized that the experience of experienced managers is very useful in cases where the project lags behind in terms of schedule, and these experiences have been used for new projects.
Personality, level of individual skills, and education are each valuable and important in turn. One of the project managers made an interesting point; he valued people who had just graduated. According to him, these people are dormant forces who can become worthy managers in the future if they are treated properly. Because they have just graduated from university, they are not familiar enough with the job market, so they enter the job market with an academic perspective.

Factors of the cultural and ethnic dimension
Factors of cultural and ethnic dimension include holding special festivals and traditions, holding recreational and technical competitions, and the culture of cooperation and trust within the team. Table 2 shows the priority of each of the factors. As shown in the figure, team trust has a higher priorit y than other factors. One interviewee believes that team trust can be like a family relationship at work, where team members feel close to each other and feel part of it. According to him, sometimes this intimacy becomes so strong and close that if one of the team members arrives late for some reason, the other team members wait for him to come, and everyone starts working together. Intra-team trust also includes a common sense of work among team members so that the competitive behavior that may exist between individuals becomes a constructive interaction and relationship, and everyone does their job independently and has peace of mind. Furthermore, a sense of intra-team trust can be the driving force in dealing with obstacles that the team encounters because team members can solve problems in consultation and with the help of their abilities and overcome obstacles.
The culture of cooperation is the second factor in this dimension, which is very evident in large companies where several teams work on a project. Because there are people of different nationalities in these teams, each of them undoubtedly has their own cultural and religious beliefs, which they follow in specific situations and times. For example, during the holy month of Ramadan, a group of Muslims entertains their colleagues by holding Iftar ceremonies and introducing them to this Islamic culture.
Another thing that is done is that the members of a team suddenly and surprisingly hold a birthday party or a wedding anniversary party for each other, and the person is completely shocked, surprised, and surprised, and these simple behaviors enhance intimacy and friendship among team members. Holding recreational and technical competitions, holding special celebrations and ceremonies is another factor of the cultural dimension, which is performed in large companies for a special occasion, and people are eager to participate in it.

Team factors
This dimension includes the factors of optimism about the project, gender balance, teamwork experience, team balance, multi-tasking, and team self-organization. Table 3 shows the priority of each of the factors. The highest weight of this group belongs to the team self-organization factor. In explaining this factor, it should be noted that when intimacy prevails between people, the people themselves form the team based on their skills and expertise and do and present the work in the best way. Individuals can even share responsibilities within the team by their choice, such as selecting one person as project manager, because the selection of the person is based on the votes and opinions of individuals and not on the appointment of a senior manager. Regarding the multi-tasking of people, it can be said that a person in the team may do several things during the project at will. Unfortunately, this has become an unwelcome compulsion for individuals in two domestic companies. In a way, during the project process, a person sometimes has to do things that may not be in his field of work at all, and this is not pleasant for the person for several projects. Teamwork experience can be examined from two perspectives.
The first view is based on the view of team members, which means that people tend to work with their teammates and achieve new success for the team. The second view is based on the opinion of managers. Managers usually choose a team or teams with a brilliant and successful work experience in projects to show the customer that the result is important to them. The issue of gender balance is interesting because some people were not very satisfied with the gender ratio of people based on their reasons and preferred that the team is not gendered homogeneous.
This gender balance was important to some of the team members who have a marital relationship. The level of optimism of the team members about the project depends on the success of the team in previous projects as well as the ability of the company and the organization. When a company or organization enters the negotiation phase with the employer, based on its capabilities and its forces, team members must be aware of the agreements made with the employer so that the process of work is clear to team members from the beginning. Teamwork balance refers to the fact that the teams involved in a project are responsible for each part of the project according to the ability of the team and its members; and one team has to do several things in parallel, and the other team is only working on the part of the project.

Organizational factors
This dimension has five factors, including work environment, telecommuting, the degree of freedom of people in the team and work environment, corporate reputation, and reward system. Table 4 shows the priority of each of the factors. The appropriate wage and reward system has earned the highest score in this group. The wage and reward system are considered as one of the components of motivation and energizing employees and gaining an appropriate reputation for themselves in the labor market. Because timely payment to employees assures them of the financial dimension, they will no longer have to worry about late payment of their salaries and benefits.
Failure to pay salaries on time will delay the project and lead to feeling lack of motivation in employees and cause intra-organizational stress. The second important factor in this dimension is the degree of freedom of individuals in the team and organization or company. Happiness in teamwork is more observed in teams where people have freedom of action. This freedom of action can be in any form, as long as it is within the rules and authority of the company, such as the freedom to work overtime. Telecommuting is considered one of the company's options for supporting the activities of its employees. According to one of the project managers, this strategy is useful for both the organization and the individual. According to him, telecommuting is an effective work potential for the individual and the organization. The work environment is also one of the factors affecting the work execution process and employees. According to one of the interviewees, the team members sometimes get bored and tired early due to the prolongation of some steps of the project, which after many evaluations concluded that the change of workplace and change in the decoration of the room has a significant effect on the mood of the people and the staff has done their job with more motivation and seriousness. The company's reputation is another factor affecting the organization. Several of the interviewees of these companies believed that although the company or organization has not yet acquired the necessary qualifications, but only for economic gain, it participates in some auctions and withdraws so after a period of time when the inability of the company or organization is identified and leaves a part-time output for the employer. Of course, in the meantime, the work pressure on the team members is also debatable.

Comparison of qualitative factor category
After comparing the factors of each dimension, this section provides a general comparison of the categories. Table 5 shows the priority of each category. As shown in Figure 2, the team dimension has the highest priority in this area. Given that people are working in teams, they usually consider themselves part of the team and believe that achievements and results belong to the whole team. Another reason that the team approach has a higher priority is that team members can compensate for problems and shortcomings by thinking together and cooperating with even the most experienced, and they can support new and inexperienced people. People need to work in a company or organization that has extensive experience and support for executive work. As shown in Figure 2, the team dimension has the highest priority in this area; given that people are working in teams, they usually consider themselves part of the team and believe that achievements and results belong to the whole team. Another reason that the team approach has a higher priority is that team members can compensate for problems and shortcomings by thinking together and cooperating with even the most experienced, and they can support new and inexperienced people. People need to work in a company or organization that has extensive experience and support for executive work.
Of course, it is not easy to get into these companies, and they are also looking for people with successful and experienced careers. Large and reputable companies are also constantly updating their teams to provide decent work. In the individual dimension, in addition to having experience, a person can update his information and awareness by studying and passing training courses and improve his position in the team or company. In the cultural dimension, different people are working in an organization, each living with their ideas. The fact that the work environment is such that people adhere to their cultural ceremonies and customs while working can lead to a better interactive communication environment in addition to familiarity with the cultures of colleagues' nations and tribes. Figure 2 shows the general view of the model along its factors. Table 6 shows the extraction of project key information based on team characteristics factors.

Empirical evaluation
A workable model was obtained after analyzing the responses, which was implemented for three months in a software company that was doing a major project for a government agency. It was very important for the employer that the contractor had to carry out the project in the employer's organization and under his supervision because of the sensitivity and importance of the work, and this made the contractor completely is subordinate to the issues and conditions of the employer's work environment. Parts of the project were done daily according to the prioritization of each part, and the parts that had less priority were done in free time. The proposed model was implemented in the lower priority sectors, which resulted in the optimal use of time, increased speed in doing work, better and more accurate planning, and increasing the importance of the prioritization of activities, reducing work stress, and increasing individual and team self-confidence, timely or early delivery of part of the project that should have been done and ultimately, the satisfaction of the employer. The obvious points that were revealed during the implementation can be mentioned in this section. What trivial issues and cases have delayed the project implementation process and delayed the implementation and delivery time in only one phase, maybe up to months. Some of the most important are: i) request to do non-project-related tasks by some sectors of the organization, ii) There are restrictions on the type of clothing, iii) intrusive inspections by the security department, iv) limitations on facilities and equipment used, such as low-speed internet, v) lack of cooperation in holding meetings by the employer for the first phase of the project for various reasons, vi) existence of intense organizational competition between the people of the employer organization and its impact on the project implementation process, vii) existence of lengthy and erosive paperwork processes for required permissions, and viii) doing something like holding a meeting with a unit again due to the employer's dissatisfaction.
And many other cases are only part of the reason for the increase in time required to complete a single phase of the project. According to a survey of the project manager and others who participated in this study, the use of the proposed model has facilitated the project implementation process, and some phases of the project have progressed earlier than scheduled, and others have been done on time. Some factors during the project implementation based on before and after the implementation of the model are listed in Table 7. A few points can be explained about Table 7: − In the column "Model effectiveness", the results are intuitively collected, and the result is a comparison of the team's performance in previous projects with the current project. − In the column "Status before the implementation of the model", data is collected based on the recorded history of projects and statements of the project manager, and in the column "Status after the implementation of the model", data is collected according to the statements of the project manager, the software product owner, and the project scrum master. − In the raw "Product quality", the announced titles are also expressed based on the comparison of old projects with the current project and the criteria of measurement, customer satisfaction, speed in project delivery, and product support.

LIMITATION
The collected data, which are the basis of this research, were obtained from the statistical community that participates in this research voluntarily. Therefore, the results included the mentioned limitation. This study can be used in larger projects to find better results, and the current results do not confirm the completeness of the present study. Also, this study does not claim to offer a global solution but believes that the results are data-driven and avoid researcher bias.

CONCLUSION
The members of the development team are one of the influential factors in the software production process. There are different criteria for measuring teamwork quality. This study, by examining the characteristics of the team, was able to present a model based on human characteristics that can provide the best performance of the development team, which is a high-quality final product. Accordingly, a qualitative model based on team characteristics was presented, which according to the results of this model, when paying more attention to characteristics such as individual dimension, cultural dimension, organizational dimension, and team dimension will have a positive effect on the performance of the software development team. Also, time management can be improved, as a result of which the customer will be satisfied, and also this product will be provided with the highest quality.