“Quality Assurance is not about testing, it’s about ensuring that processes are in place so that defects never get into the product in the first place.”
— Michael Bolton, Software Testing Expert
A major component of releasing high-quality and functional software is clear and effective quality assurance. As a developer, I despised it when bugs were discovered late in the process or sometimes even after the release, compromising the quality of the software.
But not anymore, because Software Quality Assurance (SQA) has become a more structured and recognized practice, resulting in better code quality, and faster developmental processes. In the last few years, the software testing market has witnessed significant growth and is expected to reach $49.9 billion by 2026. (DogQ Blog: Software Testing Automation)
Want to know more about this comprehensive process of SQA applied at different stages of product development? Read on to discover the whole lifecycle.
What Software Quality Assurance Means
Before we delve into the lifecycle of SQA, let me give you a brief idea of what it exactly is. Software QA is an expansive process of evaluating a product. Contrary to popular belief, it is applied at all stages of its life cycle.
The main objective behind it is to make sure that the program or app meets the requirements, operates accurately, and satisfies the requests of users. Check the link for more additional learning about software quality assurance.
Anyone who has even the slightest knowledge about software development would know that quality assurance can take a lot of time, effort, and resources. However, implementing it at the initial stages of the product development process largely reduces the risk of detecting serious defects before release and ensures an optimal procedure for its creation and verification.
DO YOU KNOW? More than 24% of companies have automated their test cases.
Basic QA Stages
Some of you might know that this procedure was not always like this. Earlier, quality assurance was only considered the final stage of software development. But now, this QA is an essential step of its life cycle, from the moment customers start to develop a product to its release to the general public.
In most cases, we include the following stages in QA testing:
Requirements gathering and analysis: We start with discussing the requirements for future development. It helps us determine how objective, feasible, and relevant these requirements are.
Creating a future test plan: After agreeing upon the product requirements, our QA specialists team proceeds to determine the scope, budget, schedule, scenarios, types, and approaches for conducting future testing.
Designing test cases: Once the testing environment is prepared, we initiate the development of test cases that are used to verify the functionality, performance, security, and other indicators of the product.
Testing execution: Having designed the test cases, the next step for us is to start the testing. Usually, our goal is to test all possible aspects of the software and deliver objective and clear results.
Final and regression testing: After the completion of all the previous testing stages, it is quite possible to detect and fix missed and non-obvious bugs.
In our team, the developers have to fix them and testers have to retest the product to ensure that the previous defects have been eliminated, and any new ones have not appeared. Before the release, we conduct final testing to make sure that our program works perfectly and smoothly.
Several Methods for Software Quality Assurance
You will find several practices used by companies to ensure effective QA. Some of the most common ones that I have observed are:
Auditing: The comprehensive evaluation of the product carried out by the testing department.
Reviewing: It involves organizing multi-party conferences to discuss suitable approaches to quality assurance.
Code evaluation: Sometimes QA experts resort not only to a general inspection of the product systems but to its code as well, this helps them minimize the number of possible errors.
Stress testing: It includes overloading the program to analyze the correctness of work under increased load.
Functional testing: In this, all the functions of the software are checked to ensure that each of them performs its role properly.
INTERESTING TIDBIT It’s often said that achieving a completely bug-free product is impossible. Even large-scale systems like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have bugs. The goal is not to eliminate all bugs, but to identify and fix critical issues that could impact users.
How to Improve QA for Your Project
To ensure software quality assurance is effective, we include some additional practices in the process that help us improve the creation and testing of our products.
Assess Your Current Approach
To elevate the situation, we honestly analyze what it is at a certain point and how satisfied we are with the results.
Make the Necessary Changes
If we see that some of the steps are not followed by our team, we add them to the quality assurance process. This is like the first step towards positive changes and organizing a new approach.
Implement New Tools
Practice shows that using only manual testing is not enough, that is why we also pay attention to automated tools and machine learning. It significantly speeds up and improves the existing verification process.
Analyze Intermediate Results
After introducing several new steps, approaches, and tools, we evaluate how much the quality assurance of our project has enhanced.
Add Missing Practices
The result analysis helps us determine what other approaches or tools can support us to improve the software QA.
TestFort provides us with an effective and affordable software QA. The company offers a variety of testing and consulting services, includes more than 200 physical devices for product verification, and has more than 150 high-skilled professional QA specialists ready to help you today.
