<p><pre><code>  &gt; You could have a patched together backend that &quot;just
  &gt; works&quot; and has a great UI that customers love, but how is
  &gt; that &quot;quality&quot; software? The software end of it is clunky
  &gt; and patched.
  &gt;
  &gt; On the other hand, you can have completely documented,
  &gt; easy to read, well thought-out code that has a terrible
  &gt; UI that no one will bother using. I guess you can say the
  &gt; software is &quot;quality,&quot; but it doesn&#x27;t matter.
</code></pre>
We&#x27;ve been discussing what quality for our team at work, and one of the key outcomes has been recognising &#x27;Perceived Quality&#x27; &amp; &#x27;Actual Quality&#x27; as distinct concepts. The main difference is, to a user, they are the same and can&#x27;t be distinguished--until something goes wrong.