Symptom: Coding standard is not followed

The coding standard can be a problem. The problem can be that there is no coding standard to follow at all, or there might be too many standards to follow. The organisation will have difficulties following a coding standard, if it contains too many items or if it contains unimportant items. If the items in the coding standard are hard to verify, it is a safe bet that the standard isn't really followed.

First of all, you need a good coding standard. A good coding standard is comprehensive, clear, contains only important items and each item is verifiable. A good coding standard is available in writing to all who need it. Secondly, you need to enforce the coding standard. This you do with regular Qualiteers Code Inspections.

Without a followed coding standard, the organisation is sure to experience problems with maintaining its codebase. The readability and understandability of the produced code suffer from the different approaches to the writing of code. It is not just a style issue. It is important that all the produced code uses the same kinds of indentation and the parentheses are placed similarly. Similar style improves maintainability but also the way of expressing things in code can be unified. There can be a shared approach to writing code. That is more than style. Striving for simplicity, avoiding duplication and promoting modularity are the key points in a healthy and meaningful coding standard. Expressing the coding standard as a set of rules enables using regular code inspections to enforce the coding standard.