The Speed vs Quality Tradeoff in Software Development

The Speed vs Quality Tradeoff in Software Development

There are two broad categories of criticism we get in Zoho Creator (and Zoho in general):

1. I asked for this simple thing months, years ago, it is still not done. Is your development team sleeping?

2. How can you put this bug? Is your QA team sleeping?

In fact, sometimes the same person would offer both of these criticisms, at once. Let me first say that we have shipped over 20 services in Zoho and we are now on our 7th year. The broader Zoho Corp itself has over 60 products, and has been in business for over 15 years. So we have some experience with software development. Our managers are seasoned, they have gone through a lot of cycles.

A few things I have learned about software productivity over time is that a) small teams are dramatically more productive than large teams  b) there is a natural speed limit in a particular product/team, that is a function of the inherent complexity of the technology involved and the skill level of the team.

Now let's put those two together. When teams/products hit their speed limit, a very tempting solution is to increase the team size. In the early stages, when the team is very small, this can work. But at some point, even before the team is very large, it becomes counter-productive. At that point, adding people to a team can actually cause things to slow down even more.

Now, on the quality issue. Ultimately, quality can never be tested into software. We keep increasing our test coverage and the number of test cases, we keep increasing the time in the release cycle that is devoted to testing, but this is an arms race that testing would lose. Software grows exponential in complexity (think of interactions between various modules and subsystems) but tests grow only linearly with team size. 

So to come back to the title: both speed and quality are ultimately subject to the God of Software Complexity. If we do not get complexity down, we can achieve quality only by pushing development to a stand-still. 

These things explain why software can be so maddening. Simple things sometimes take too long, and bugs creep into even well tested software. We see this every major piece of software out there has been, not just from Zoho. 

Interestingly, this is the topic that I have thought about a lot. Deluge itself is an outcome of these observations and thoughts. 

The key question we have asked ourselves is: how can we systematically reduce complexity in software, so that both speed and quality improve?

I am happy to report that we are making progress on that front. Over the next couple of years, Zoho Creator is poised for some interesting new developments. I won't talk about them too much, primarily because I don't like to hype things up, but I am quite excited.

One thing I will say: Zoho Creator is the cornerstone of our entire complexity-reduction strategy. We are betting on it heavily internally. That is the best assurance I can provide customers on the viability of this platform long term.

Sridhar




    • Sticky Posts

    • Celebrating our Zoho Community SuperBuds!

      The SuperBud program recognizes the efforts Zoho users  put in to help the rest of the community thrive and grow in their individual Zoho journeys. Be it the ZUG meetups  or these forums, several Zoho users including our MVPs andZUG leaders, have stepped

    • Recent Topics

    • Offline support for mobile app

      Accessing your files and folders from your mobile devices is now quicker and simpler, thanks to the power of offline support. Whether on an Android or iOS device, you can use the Offline function to save files and folders, so you can review them even

    • Zoho Sheet for Desktop

      Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?

    • Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values

      Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next couple

    • BUTTONS SHOWN AS AN ICON ON A REPORT

      Hi Is there any way to create an action button but show it as an icon on a report please? As per the attached example? So if the user clicks the icon, it triggers an action?

    • Dropshipping Address - Does Not Show on Invoice Correctly

      When a dropshipping address is used for a customer, the correct ship-to address does not seem to show on the Invoice. It shows correctly on the Sales Order, Shipment Order, and Package, just not the Invoice. This is a problem, because the company being

    • RFQ MODEL

      A Request for quotation model is used for Purchase Inquiries to multiple vendors. The Item is Created and then selected to send it to various vendors , once the Prices are received , a comparative chart is made for the user. this will help Zoho books

    • Will zoho thrive be integrated with Zoho Books?

      title

    • Product Updates in Zoho Workplace applications | August 2025

      Hello Workplace Community, Let’s take a look at the new features and enhancements that went live across all Workplace applications this August. Zoho Mail Delegate Email Alias Now you can let other users send emails on your behalf—not just from your primary

    • Notebook audio recordings disappearing

      I have recently been experiencing issues where some of my attached audio recordings are disappearing. I am referring specifically to ones made within a Note card in Notebook on mobile, made by pressing the "+" button and choosing "Record audio" (or similar),

    • Error While Sign in on Zoho Work Drive

      Dear Team, I hope this email finds you well. I have recently created a Zoho account and started using it. But while I am trying to log in to Zoho work drive it won't log me in its crashing every time I try it. I have tried it on android app, phone browser

    • Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked

      Hi, I sent few emails and got this: Unable to send message; Reason:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked And now I have few days since I cant send any email. Is there something wrong I did? Also can someone fix this please

    • Want to use Zoho Books in Switzerland. CHF support planned?

      Hi, We're a Swiss company using other Zoho suite software and I discovered Zoho Books and other accounting SaaS when looking for an accounting tool. Do you intend to cover Switzerland and CHF based accounting anytime soon? Roy

    • Zoho sheet desktop version

      Hi Zoho team Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important as web version is slow and requires one to be online all the time to do even basic work. If it is available, please guide me to the same.

    • Weekly Tips : Teamwork made easy with Multiple Assignees

      Let's say you are working on a big project where different parts of a single task need attention from several people at the same time—like reviewing a proposal that requires input from sales, legal, and finance teams. Instead of sending separate reminders

    • Best way to share/download presentation files in Zoho without losing formatting?

      Hello Zoho Community, I often work with PPT/PDF files in Zoho Docs and share them with colleagues. While PDFs usually give a direct download option, I’ve noticed that PPT/PPTX files sometimes only open in the viewer without a clear download link. Is there

    • Celebrating Connections with Zoho Desk

      September 27 is a special day marking two great occasions: World Tourism Day and Google’s birthday. What do these two events have in common (besides the date)? It's something that Zoho Desk celebrates, too: making connections. The connect through tourism

    • What is Resolution Time in Business Hours

      HI, What is the formula used to find the total time spent by an agent on a particular ticket? How is Resolution Time in Business Hours calculated in Zohodesk? As we need to find out the time spent on the ticket's solution by an agent we seek your assistance

    • Upload API

      I'm trying to use the Upload API to upload some images and attach them to comments (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads#Uploads_Uploadfile) - however I can only ever get a 401 or bad request back. I'm using an OAuth token with the Desk.tickets.ALL

    • How use

      Good morning sir I tried Zoho Mail

    • Adding Overlays to Live Stream

      Hello folks, The company I work for will host an online event through Zoho Webinar. I want to add an overlay (an image) at the bottom of the screen with all the sponsors' logos. Is it possible to add an image as an overlay during the live stream? If so,

    • Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted. - WHMCS Not sending emails due to this error

      I have been trying to figure out a fix for about a week now and I haven't found one on my own so I am going to ask for help on here.  After checking all the settings and even resetting my password for the email used for WHMCS it still says: Email Sending Failed - SMTP Error: data not accepted.  I have no clue how to fix it at this point. Any insight would be lovely. 

    • Does Zoho Learn integrate with Zoho Connect,People,Workdrive,Project,Desk?

      Can we propose Zoho LEarn as a centralised Knowledge Portal tool that can get synched with the other Zoho products and serve as a central Knowledge repository?

    • Zoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia

      Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow to

    • Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Desk Help Center for End Users

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We’d like to submit a feature request to enhance the client-facing Help Center in Zoho Desk with comprehensive accessibility features, similar to those already available on the agent interface. 🎯 Current

    • Rename Record Summary PDF in SendMail task

      So I've been tasked with renaming a record summary PDF to be sent as part of a sendmail task. Normally I would offer the manual solution, a user exports the PDF and uploads it to a file upload field, however this is not acceptable to the client in this

    • Option to Empty Entire Mailbox or Folder in Zoho Mail

      Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Mail that would allow administrators and users to quickly clear out entire folders or mailboxes, including shared mailboxes. Current Limitation: At present, Zoho Mail only

    • in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Q

      in zoho creator Sales Returns form has sub form Line Items return quantity when i upate the or enter any values in the sub form that want to reflect in the Sales Order form item deail sub form field Quantity Returned\ pls check the recording fetch_salesorder

    • Estimates with options and sub-totals

      Hi It seems it would be great to be able to show multiple options in an estimate. For instance I have a core product to which I can add options, and maybe sub-options... It would be great to have subtotals and isolate the core from the not compulsory items. Thanks

    • Optional Items Estimate

      How do you handle optional items within an estimate? In our case we have only options to choose with. (Like your software pricing, ...standard, professional, enterprise) How can we disable the total price? Working with Qty = 0 is unprofessional....

    • Important Update : Zendesk Sell announced End of Life

      Hello Zendesk users, Zendesk has officially announced that Zendesk Sell will reach its End of Life (EOL) on August 31, 2027 (Learn more). In line with this deprecation, Zoho Analytics will retire its native Zendesk Sell connector effective October 1,

    • Zoho Sheets

      Hi, I am trying to transition into Zoho sheets, I have attached the issues encountered. Server issues, file trying to upload for more than 30 mins, even once uploaded my data aren't loaded. Simple calculations are not working I have attached the sample.

    • Zoho CRM + Zoho FSM : alignez vos équipes commerciales et techniques

      La vente est finalisée, mais le parcours client ne fait que commencer ! Dans les entreprises orientées service, conclure une vente représente seulement la première étape. Ce qui suit — installation, réparation ou maintenance régulière — influence grandement

    • Top Bar Shifting issue still not fixed yet

      I mentioned in a previous ticket that on Android, the top bar shifts up when you view collections or when you're in the settings. That issue still hasn't been fixed yet. I don't wanna have to reinstall the app as I've noticed for some reason, reinstalling

    • Power of Automation:: Automate the process of updating project status based on a specific task status.

      Hello Everyone, Today, I am pleased to showcase the capabilities of a custom function that is available in our Gallery. To explore the custom functions within the Gallery, please follow the steps below. Click Setup in the top right corner > Developer

    • ZOHO SHEETS

      Where can I access desktop version of zoho sheets? It is important to do basic work If it is available, please guide me to the same

    • Attention API Users: Upcoming Support for Renaming System Fields

      Hello all! We are excited to announce an upcoming enhancement in Zoho CRM: support for renaming system-defined fields! Current Behavior Currently, system-defined fields returned by the GET - Fields Metadata API have display_label and field_label properties

    • Billing Management: #3 Billing Unbilled Charges Periodically

      We had a smooth sail into Prorated Billing, a practice that ensures fairness when customers join, upgrade, or downgrade a service at any point during the billing cycle. But what happens when a customer requests additional limits or features during the

    • No bank feeds from First National Bank South Africa since 12 September

      I do not know how Zoho Books expects its customers to run a business like this. I have contacted Zoho books numerous times about this and the say it is solved - on email NO ONE ANSWERS THE SOUTH AFRICAN HELP LINE Come on Zoho Books, you cannot expect

    • Zoho CRM Calendar | Custom Buttons

      I'm working with my sales team to make our scheduling process easier for our team. We primary rely on Zoho CRM calendar to organize our events for our sales team. I was wondering if there is a way to add custom button in the Calendar view on events/meeting

    • Citation Problem

      I had an previous ticket (#116148702) on this subject. The basic problem is this; the "Fetch Details" feature works fine on the first attempt but fails on every subsequent attempt, Back in July after having submitted information electronically and was

    • Next Page