The first and foremost thing is to understand the requirements clearly from the stakeholders, then ask about the expectations on delivery timelines, as time to market is always a top priority. Now try to identify the requirements as Must Haves and Nice to Have, features. Do a quick high level estimates on all requirements and use magic quadrant to evaluate feature based on efforts and business value. This should give a clear picture on the deliverable. To maintain quality, identify the Functional and Non-Functionals and make sure the test coverage is good enough. To keep it fast and accurate, have more frequent check points with stakeholders to mitigate risk and any deviation.

Everyone is always talking about having requirements clear. But most of us that have worked with software know that it is impossible to have super clear/perfect requirements. The more you work on requirements the more you realize that there will always be some angle, case, scenario or stakeholder need that is not being covered and that you need to work more. My view is getting requirements good enough that it is clear for the engineers what to develop and define acceptance criteria so it is clear what to test against. Then just go for it, test a lot, demo regularly to stakeholders to collect feedback and iterate on it. frequently. Always, think what is the MVP that closes most needs and covers most cases.

While delivering a project, the quality of your solution should be very solid. It should cater to all the client's needs and requirements. If your solution is not well tested, there could be a variety of issues that might show up later, which again lead back to poor solution designing. To account for the speed portion, automating workflows that require a lot of time and effort is the best way to go. This mainly includes rigorous functional and performance testing and deployment process

Balancing quality and speed in software releases requires thoughtful planning and stakeholder collaboration. - Define Quality & Risk Early: Agree on clear standards with all stakeholders before coding begins. - Disprove the Trade-Off Myth: With CI/CD, feature toggles, and canary deployments, it’s possible to move fast while maintaining excellence. - Use Checkpoints: Employ a simple “go/no-go” checklist pre-release to ensure timelines, stability, and user needs are consistently met.

As a senior engineer, balancing quality and speed is about clear priorities, collaboration, and smart processes: 1. Clear Requirements: I ensure stakeholder goals are defined upfront to avoid scope creep. 2. Agile Iteration: Regular sprints and feedback loops help catch issues early and adapt quickly. 3. Automation: I use CI/CD pipelines and automated testing to streamline processes and ensure reliability. 4. Technical Debt: I balance feature development with addressing debt for long-term stability. A strong strategy and team accountability ensure consistent, high-quality delivery.

Balancing quality and speed in software development is like walking a tightrope…you need focus and the right tools. For me, it’s about: Collaboration: Clear communication reduces rework. Iteration: Ship small, improve fast. Quick wins: Boost morale while maintaining user trust.

With my recent experience with product/ feature delivery is that a good quality release is much more better than a buggy quick paced release. A good quality release is the one where sufficient time is given to testing and development so that no shortcuts are taken and proper testing is done. A release with the pressure of deadlines always shifts our focus from delivering quality over quantity.

Key things to consider: - keep it simple - don't over engineer - embrace automation - peer reviews with checklist - seamless delivery process - code readability - know the business domain well - shift left with automation testing

Software development is about slowing down to go fast. Rushing ahead with assumptions can lead to bugs and errors you didn't anticipate. Taking the time to write tests and implement code quality checks helps catch those small, easy-to-miss issues early. Automated testing, in particular, serves as a safety net, identifying problems before they become bigger headaches. By focusing on quality from the start, you save time and effort in the long run, ensuring smoother, faster development.