The complexity of software has far exceeded the ability of traditional strategies to manage it. We know how to reliably scale our software: the principled application of formal methods. More advanced type systems, proofs of correctness, principled math-based strategies for software construction, etc. Yes, all of these are locally more expensive than the slipshod strategies most companies are using now, but I am confident that if the cost of buggy software was correctly internalized, it would become clear that improving the processes we use to create software would leave us a lot better off in the end.
It could have to do with talent shortage. If you're a company that wants to hire a team of people like that, how much are you going to have to pay for it?
And if you're making, say, a chat app, are you sure you're not going to be beaten by a bunch of 20 year olds who slap together JS and Electron, ultimately winning because they get that people want funny reaction gifs built in?
Maybe it freezes for a half second every so often and takes 10 seconds to load, but no one cares because 1) it gets to market three times faster and 2) it has funny reaction gifs.
Right, this is the part where you first have to internalize the true cost of bugs. You can't keep hiring $12k/yr third world sweatshop programmers if you want reliable software.
> no one cares because 1) it gets to market three times faster and 2) it has funny reaction gifs.
This is absolutely true, but I maintain this is mostly because businesses have an artificially high time preference due to government subsidies of debt, and in a less distorted market people would probably care a lot more about quality.
The biggest issue with this mindset is that attempting to deploy self-discipline at scale is a losing strategy, both on the individual project level (if they're large enough) and at the corporate level. That's why the most successful large projects always have a 'dictator' acting as the standard-bearer for quality.
Often it can be quite advantageous for individual instances, no doubt, but expecting humans to be disciplined en-masse without serious external oppression is a bit like expecting cats to neatly line up for treats.
