Although you may already have a strategy in place, it is important to evaluate it regularly.
Change is difficult. But when you're working and producing software or any technology, you've probably realized a long time ago that adapting to new methodologies and adjusting your strategies are normal. It's clear that technology is constantly evolving, with new tools and approaches being introduced every day and software, unfortunately, routinely becoming outdated.
So there are many things you should keep an eye on. One area that requires constant attention and refinement is your quality assurance (QA) strategy . Quality control is an essential part of software delivery because it prepares your product for its final release. Although you may already have a strategy in place, it is important to evaluate it regularly.
What are the steps to ensure your testing process is correct? While there is no exact formula, the following suggestions can help you evaluate your quality control strategy.
Conduct an audit of your current strategy
Dig deeper into each area of your quality control process to assess what is working and what might require a review or adjustment. This includes documentation, methodology, management and more. Discuss these points with key personnel, asking what they believe is going well and whether there are any flaws they notice.
You should also examine the process from start to finish to fully understand how the big picture comes together and how things can be accomplished even better.
Make a wish list
After conducting an audit of your current strategy, determine your organization's key needs. In an ideal world, what areas would you address to make your quality control process perfect?
Of course, you may not be able to do everything at once, but this will give you an idea and a general outline of what to prioritize and what you most need to do.
Keep everyone informed
From stakeholder software developers to senior management — not to mention all QA team members, of course — there are many parties that need to be involved in your QA strategy. This is because, at the end of the day, quality assurance is everyone’s responsibility.
Make sure everyone is informed about the overall plans, their individual roles and contributions, and any other related concerns. Although the quality control process affects some team members more than others, it is still important to each individual, so you must keep them informed.
Involve the QA team from the beginning
The QA team should not intervene at the end to catch every bug. Instead, it should be involved in the software development life cycle (SDLC) from the early stages. Team members should work closely with developers and begin performing assessments before errors and defects become too advanced, as they will be more difficult to resolve later.
Software developers will perform unit testing, but the QA team will also perform involved testing along the way. This will avoid bottlenecks in operations and allow you to keep the pipeline flowing in terms of producing high-quality products and bringing them to market.
Take stock of your manual and automated operations
Sometimes organizations get so caught up in automation that they neglect manual testing. While automation has an important place in the quality control process and can be completed more quickly and cheaply than manual testing, it is not always the answer.
For example, exploratory testing, in which QA experts perform an analysis of the system and learn about it along the way, is not a scripted approach and cannot be performed by a machine — the human tester must rely on intuition and in critical thinking. to “explore” the product.
Of course, automated tests must also first be designed by QA professionals, so that even automated activities are not strictly dependent on machines. As you refine your testing strategy, think carefully about which areas lend themselves best to automation and which should be handled by experts.
Look for areas to outsource
You may already have an excellent quality control team. Still, this does not mean that there are no areas that could lend themselves to external experts. Maybe a project requires a specific skill set that none of your internal employees have, or you just need additional support for the volume of products in the pipeline.
Quality control outsourcing has a number of benefits, including cost savings, efficiency and more. It will also help your internal team achieve stronger results and assist in project completion, improving productivity. If you want to maintain a full-time team, outsourcing can support your overall strategy and increase the workload of your employees.
Keep evaluating and reevaluating
While your quality control strategy may seem right at the moment, the technology industry and market are constantly changing. Even when setting it to meet current standards, be sure to leave some wiggle room for changing circumstances. Additionally, make a point to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate your quality control process to ensure it is still running as smoothly as possible. You can even create a schedule for check-ins with employees and team members.
Just as everyone is responsible for ensuring the quality of their products, everyone must also do their part to be flexible and take a critical eye when evaluating quality control processes. Remember that your organization may very well change – whether it shrinks, grows or changes direction – and you will need to take a number of factors into account. Your quality control strategy must complement new approaches.
Firstly, it is hard work to create a quality control strategy, which will allow you to satisfy your project requirements and meet industry standards. In some ways, it can be even more difficult to reevaluate and refine your process once you already have one in place. You need to get buy-in from all stakeholders, consider every aspect of your strategy, define key players, and more.
It is also a necessary step. The world of technology is never static, and hopefully neither is your company. Establishing new procedures and keeping a critical eye on your operations is essential to ensuring that your overall software development process continues to run smoothly and that the products you create are of the highest quality possible.
