Quality Assurance & Testing

QA engineers, test automation, quality engineering

Quality assurance and software testing are related but separate disciplines within software development. QA is the strategy that’s aimed at preventing defects, while testing is the reactive phase that focuses on executing code to find and fix bugs as they occur.

Quality assurance is a process that ensures products meet standards and customer expectations across a product’s entire development lifecycle. Its goal is to prevent defects through and build user trust, avoiding costly issues and downtime. It includes strategy and planning, where teams outline their approach to QA, define the metrics of success and prepare test cases early in development. It also involves automation, where tools and scripts are integrated into Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for testing. Both functional and non-functional tests are carried out to enable teams to locate and fix bugs as early as possible. QA responds to needs such as rapid web application testing and safety-critical systems.

Many tests within QA have now been automated, which streamlines the process and makes it more affordable. It also eliminates a lot of human error from the process, where repetitive checks can be harder for a human worker to engage with as opposed to an automated system. It also allows broader coverage, and thousands of scenarios can be tested simultaneously across multiple platforms.

Quality engineering (QE) is the discipline that aims to embed QA principles into every phase of a product’s life cycle, rather than just testing for defects at the end of the process. It aims to optimise systems, processes and products, via detecting risks early, applying data science and statistical analysis to ensure robust production. It also aligns cross-functional teams to make sure quality is a practice that’s integrated at every step of the development process.