QA and testing do much more than detect bugs.
It doesn't matter what stage of business you're at – there's always a lot to sort out, so it's easy to lose sight of what's essential. Although it may be one of the furthest things from your mind, Quality Assurance (QA) should be at the top of your list – right next to software development itself.
Why is establishing a quality control process in your organization so important? And how, exactly, do you make that happen? Here's why you need to prioritize software testing — and what you need to do to do it right.
Why a quality control process is important
Simply put, if you release a defective product, your business will fail. This is especially true when you're a startup, although even long-established companies face consequences when their products don't measure up. QA testing helps prevent you from making catastrophic mistakes in releases — although even the most rigorous QA process cannot completely guarantee the absence of bugs.
But testing does much more than simply allow you to catch the most bugs. Depending on the types of tests deployed, it allows you to evaluate usability, functionality, performance, user load and more. These are all crucial aspects of your product and can mean the difference between success or failure in your market.
Establishing a quality control process
Choosing a Methodology
If you have an established Agile methodology in your organization, your testing strategy will need to conform to the same standards. The methodology will, in fact, largely dictate your activities in all software-related domains – including testing.
Work with QA and software development teams to review your methodology and ensure that your testing activities meet the standards and requirements established in these processes.
Requirements Analysis
Meeting requirements is the main objective of software development. Any quality control process must have a built-in analysis of whether or not you have met product requirements. Of course, these vary from project to project, but your validation activities to assess whether certain standards have been met may look largely the same from one project to the next.
Test Planning
For each product, you will need to plan your testing from development to launch. While each project is unique and requires different test cases and scenarios, you can still have a comprehensive plan: a template for a checklist, a list of responsibilities, a grid of requirements, and so on.
You should also establish a pipeline of assignments and projects. You can even use a project management tool to keep track of individual test cases, task owners, and due dates.
Prioritizing
Consider your priorities when it comes to testing. This will depend on the nature of your organization and the types of products you plan to launch. Your priorities will dictate the tests you perform because different types of tests evaluate different elements of your product. Once you know which tests appear at the top of your list, you will have a more definitive plan for your QA process.
Assigning responsibilities
Everyone on the team is responsible for ensuring the quality of their products. Still, specific tasks must be in the hands of those who specialize in each area. Also, keep in mind that while software developers are not the same as QA specialists — each role has different skill sets and responsibilities — they must still contribute to the QA process. Additionally, QA and development teams must work closely together and know what their specific tasks are.
Automation and manual testing
Organizations often rely heavily on automation in the quality control process. While automated testing can certainly save you time and money, you should use a combination of automated and manual testing to ensure full coverage. Also, keep in mind that automated tests still need to be written by a human and should be used for repetitive evaluations.
Sometimes tests require complexity or creativity, which means they cannot be automated, so they require human intervention.
Communicating
As part of your quality control process, you will need to establish a method for documenting and reporting issues found, corrections required, and their status. This is something that both the QA team and software developers, along with other key stakeholders like the project manager, should be able to access and edit. Make sure everyone knows where to check, how often to check, and any other pertinent information about the reporting system.
Testing again
After the QA team finds defects, software developers will repair the product and QA experts will test it again to ensure the bug has been resolved. They will also perform regression testing to ensure that the fix did not affect other elements of the product such as functionality, usability, and other elements.
Build regression testing into your plan so it doesn't delay any longer than necessary. Assume this will play a role in all test scenarios because no product is perfect.
Scalability
Whether you're a startup or a more established company, growth could very well be in your future. When planning your quality control process, keep scalability in mind. How will you account for overage if you have exhausted the capacity of your full-time testing team?
You might, for example, think about whether outsourcing could be a possibility, at least while you're still thinking about a long-term process. You can also consider team expansion. Either way, make sure you start considering how you will expand before it becomes urgent.
Software development is only half the battle. Any emerging or experienced organization must also have a solid quality control testing strategy to ensure that the products they release are of high quality and will meet their customers' expectations. Without it, your company could face damage to its reputation – or, worse, not be able to survive the resistance that accompanies the release of a defective product.
Don't let that happen! Before launching a single product, make sure it has gone through a rigorous quality assurance process .
Source: BairesDev
