The Joel Test

The Joel Test is a simple, quick test to gauge the quality of a computer software team, originally published by Joel Spolsky on his Joel on Software weblog. Although he describes it as "a highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of a software team", it can be used by managers, prospective job candidates, and for due diligence for investors, and recruiters advertising on the Joel on Software jobs board are asked to declare their answers to the questions in their listings.

The twelve questions are:

#Do you use source control?
#Can you make a build in one step?
#Do you make daily builds?
#Do you have a bug database?
#Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
#Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
#Do you have a spec?
#Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
#Do you use the best tools money can buy?
#Do you have testers?
#Do new candidates write code during their interview?
#Do you do hallway usability testing?

A score of 12 is obviously perfect; although he states that a score of 11 is considered passing, he describes anything less as poor. However, although large software development teams such as Microsoft score twelve out of twelve full time, many organisations only score two or three. [cite web
last=Spolsky
first=Joel
title=The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code
url=http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
date=2000-08-09
accessdate=2006-11-03]

References