Court Expert

What happens when software ends up in court? Then it’s not the coolest framework that counts, but whether the solution is “state of the art” - a legal term that has little to do with technical hype. Anyone who believes that software testing and automated testers are a purely technical issue is mistaken: if there are more than two errors per 1,000 lines of code, software is considered immature, and in the event of a dispute, this can have consequences for warranty and compensation. The surprising finding from hundreds of projects: Agile development makes you more productive, but not necessarily better quality.

Podcast Episode: Court Expert

What actually happens when the software a company has bought doesn’t work? Or worse still, if it causes damage? A dispute arises, what happens next? Sebastian is a sworn and court-certified software expert. He is commissioned when it comes to the evaluation of software. Interestingly, such cases rarely end up in court - the public embarrassment for both sides is too great. Therefore, all parties are interested in an out-of-court settlement, which people like Sebastian then make possible.

“Agility leads to higher speed and higher productivity, in my view not to higher quality.” - Sebastian Dietrich

Since 2003, Sebastian Dietrich has been working as an expert for software quality and software maintenance in addition to his activities as a trainer, consultant and software architect. He has been a sworn and court-certified expert since 2015. In this role, he ensures that software is state of the art and neither obsolete nor unmaintainable in the context of tendering, implementation, testing, acceptance and maintenance. If necessary, he also acts as a court expert in the event of a dispute.

Highlights der Episode

• The state of the art is not the latest, but the proven, efficient and targeted.
• More than two errors per 1000 lines of code is considered immature and not ready for use.
• Agility increases speed and productivity, but not necessarily the actual software quality.
• SonarCube only shows low-level problems - architecture decisions require human evaluation of frameworks.
• Never rewrite old tests - only add intelligent tests for new things when code changes.

Court expert for software: building bridges between technology and law

Today we’re talking about the interesting profession of software court expert. Our guest, Sebastian Dietrich, has given us an insight into the challenges and responsibilities of this role, from assessing software quality to working with courts and companies.

Court-certified expert witness

Today I had the pleasure of welcoming Sebastian Dietrich, a longtime friend and colleague. Sebastian holds a unique position as a court-certified expert witness for software. With over two decades of experience in software development, he offers his expertise to the courts to mediate technical disputes. His comprehensive insight into this specialized profession was not only enlightening, but also inspiring.

The role of a court expert

Sebastian explained the fascinating aspects of his work to us. As a “generally sworn and court-certified expert”, he is not only in demand for court proceedings, but also works out of court. Testing software for state-of-the-art quality and evaluating development processes are just some of the tasks he undertakes. It turns out that most conflicts are settled out of court in order to avoid public disputes.

Challenges at work

Sebastian also revealed the challenges of his job. He is often called in for situations where a lot is at stake - sometimes even human lives. Assessing software quality is complex and requires deep insights into development methods and tools. Sebastian’s ability to evaluate objectively while proposing pragmatic solutions makes him a valuable mediator between the parties.

Tools and techniques

One of the tools frequently used in Sebastian’s work is SonarQube, a tool for measuring code quality. It helps him to quickly assess the technical quality of software and identify areas for improvement. But as Sebastian emphasized, using such tools is only one piece of the puzzle - understanding the architecture and long-term viability of a software is at least as important.

Quality in software development

Sebastian brought up another interesting point: Despite the trend towards agile development, he does not see any significant improvement in general software quality over the years. Agility leads to higher speed and productivity, but not necessarily to better quality. This assessment gives cause for reflection on how quality is defined and achieved.