"...quality is fastest way to get software into production"

Maybe, but what constitutes "quality"? What's the definition of "quality"? Back in the mid 90s, Bellcore sold something called "QMO", an all-encompassing development methodology that focused on "quality". Nowhere in the system did it define "quality", so QMO ended up as a system to call meetings, demand "artifacts" of people, and argue about what "quality meant.

Yes, software development is misunderstood. So is "quality". In fact, it's so misunderstood as to defy any understanding at all.