When [I previously asked][9] what's responsible for slow software, a few answers I've received suggested it was a social and management problem:

> This isn't a technical problem, it's a marketing and management problem.... Utimately, the product mangers are responsible to write the specs for what the user is supposed to get. Lots of things can go wrong: The product manager fails to put button response in the spec ... The QA folks do a mediocre job of testing against the spec ... if the product management and QA staff are all asleep at the wheel, we programmers can't make up for that. —[Bob Murphy][10]

> People work on good-size apps. As they work, performance problems creep in, just like bugs. The difference is - bugs are "bad" - they cry out "find me, and fix me". Performance problems just sit there and get worse. Programmers often think "Well, my code wouldn't have a performance problem. Rather, management needs to buy me a newer/bigger/faster machine." The fact is, if developers periodically just hunt for performance problems ([which is actually very easy][12]) they could simply clean them out. —[Mike Dunlavey][11]

So, if this is a social problem, what social mechanisms can an organization put into place to avoid shipping slow software to its customers? 


  [1]: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/86006/what-causes-bad-performance-in-consumer-apps
  [2]: http://www.pvrblog.com/2005/11/comcast_hd_dvr_.html
  [3]: http://www.satelliteguys.us/comcast-cable-forum/88057-anyone-else-dvr-lag-issues.html
  [4]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdk2cJpSXLg
  [5]: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2579483?start=0&tstart=0
  [6]: http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/m/728774/
  [7]: http://www.coderanch.com/t/104591/vc/Eclipse-very-slow-any-way
  [8]: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=183239.
  [9]: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/86006/what-causes-bad-performance-in-consumer-apps
  [10]: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/86006/what-causes-bad-performance-in-consumer-apps/86019#86019
  [11]: https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/86006/what-causes-bad-performance-in-consumer-apps/86030#86030
  [12]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/375913/what-can-i-use-to-profile-c-code-in-linux/378024#378024
  [13]: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/fa85b17d-3df2-49b1-bee6-71527ffef441
  [14]: http://www.useit.com/papers/responsetime.html