Quality Assurance (QA) is much more than just testing some pieces of code. It is a way to create a product that would not only be stable and bug-free, but also it will meet the initial requirements and improve the user experience.
QA, QC, and Software Testing - What’s the Difference?
Quality Assurance is the process of software overview when the development stage takes place. In order to provide the security and quality of the product, this process has to be set up professionally. This will allow avoiding a lot of the problems, which usually occur after the release.
Quality Assurance is often mistaken for two resembling practices: Quality Control (QC) and Software Testing. Unlike them, QA is a broad concept as well as it also includes QC and Software testing. Here is what makes them different:
Quality Control
QC is all about the review of the quality standards and technical specifications. The task is to find out the deviations from the initial plan. This process usually takes place just before the release when the project is completed, or if it is near to the completion.
Unlike QC, which is a reactive process, QA is oriented toward the troubles that may occur in the future. That is why Quality Assurance is proactive, since it helps to find out the possible issues and fix them before they made an unwanted impact.
The thing that differentiates QC from software testing is that it targets the product as a whole, while software testing aims at the parts of the code as well as UI/UX quality.
Software Testing
As for software testing, it is just a mere tool for the defects' identification in order to fix the detected imperfections. In plain English, software testing is a process of looking for bugs and errors of different types, as well as it is the effort to break the product in order to see how much it can withstand.
There are two approaches to software testing: automated and manual.
Automated testing
The automated testing approach involves testing software, digital tools, scripts, etc. to review the quality of the code as well as to conduct the validation. This approach helps to reduce testing time and to save human efforts.
Manual testing
Unlike automated, manual testing uses human efforts to check the quality of the product.
Can I Do without QA on My Project?
Sure, you can. If you want to save money now and take enormous and unnecessary risks that will influence your product and possibly your customer, that would be a nice choice. Well, of course, we are joking. By no means should you omit quality assurance, and this section of the article will explain to you why.
At first glance, the neglect of some QA processes may seem like a good idea. It is because you imagine saving time and money to deliver the new features faster. In fact, every omitted test will result in even more costly and time-consuming solutions later. Your losses will always outweigh the short-time benefits you received from such an economy.
This list is not the result of our research. The information on the picture above is taken from the open sources.
If those examples above seem far from the realities of your business, you may predict the possible issues associated with your case by reading the following information. Oftentimes, neglecting Quality Assurance results in two types of problems:
Software Development Issues:
Code errors and bugs remain undetected, and thus, unfixed
The security of the system is jeopardized
Overall performance may become unstable
The whole system may misbehave
Business Issues
Unexpected troubles may lead to missed deadlines
The misbehavior of an app or a website will influence the end-user satisfaction
Some problems may lead to financial losses
Most of the problems above will lead to reputational damage
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The Benefits of Quality Assurance
Now that you know the dangers of avoiding the QA process, it is also important to learn about the benefits of conducting this process as it is supposed:
Save time and money
When a bug is noticed earlier, it is easier to fix it. Besides, with the prediction of future problems, they are easier to avoid them than to deal with them after they appeared. As a result, with the proper QA process, you can deploy the product and not expect a lot of unnecessary revisions.
Competitive product
Due to the fact that your product is error-free, it is always better than other options on the market that do not work as they are supposed to.
Security
A product with bugs is much more vulnerable to breaches than the one that works properly. The security of your customers’ data relies on this.
Reputation
A high-quality product is one of the factors that improve your company's reputation. An error-free product is also often perceived not only as a quality but also as an attitude towards customers.
Another important point is that you should not limit your project to just software testing as a stage, but instead make quality assurance a constituent of the software development lifecycle.
Conclusion
The fact is that a high-quality product is harder to notice than the flawed one. The efforts of the QA specialists are often unnoticed, but without them, your product will almost certainly fail on the market. On the other hand, the efforts of QA professionals result in a stable and secure product, which is one of the reasons for users to like it.
Here at OTAKOYI, we believe that quality assurance together with quality control and software testing are obligatory parts of the software development process, and coding should always go hand in hand with QA as a holistic approach. If you want to learn more about how we approach our projects, or if you have a project in mind, you may contact us.
