In a software development project, different teams contribute to creating a digital product; one of those is Quality Assurance. The QA Team adds significant value to the project, resulting in a stable product with the highest quality. But, what value can this area add to the internal team? How can QA improve the product?
QA Team in a software development project
In software development it’s usually expected that the final product meets the business's requirements, having sustainable economic results. But, in order to achieve that, it's necessary to improve the processes and methods used during in the product's life cycle. Just there is where Quality Assurance has its most important role.
I'm a QA tester here at MagmaLabs. So, I might start with my definition of a QA Team. And also, whit what I think is its purpose:
"Quality Assurance is a group of processes and methods used to track how work is going on during the development of a product, seeking that each of the requirements that have been proposed is fulfilled correctly."
I want us to focus on two important keywords: processes and methods.Thanks to the definition of both words, we can conclude that Quality Assurance it's a way of proceeding in order to reach a specific result or outcome. We, the QA Team, have to ensure that this intended path is followed correctly.
During the software product development process, there are activities that the QA Team will analyze in order to find the most appropriate way to work in the project’s life cycle. This analysis involves good practices and continuous improvements to define time and assessments, but mostly to prevent the risks that may arise.
Some functions of the QA Team
As we (probably) know, there are several stages to build a product. In each one of them, the QA team can (and should) contribute with ideas, processes, and methods for their continuous improvement. For example: in the pre-QA process, when writing the user story, a tester can propose an improvement before reviewing any functionality. That way, the QA member can detect some errors before they happen!
For sure, Quality Assurance is based on an entire set of activities necessary to provide stability during the life of the project. Keeping this in mind could result in continuous improvement and in ensuring that the specifications are fit for its use. Taking this into account, also helps each area to work with the correct process and the right quality. But mostly, for making teamwork better.
The Real Value
Being a QA tester is cool, right? As the software product is built and the QA team is involved in each of its stages, it's very easy to get knowledge of the entire application. How about that? For example, it becomes easier to learn about each one of the workflows and its expected behaviors. Besides, in an easy way, we can find and anticipate any possible risk and any features that may be affected by new changes. We are like fortune-tellers! (LOL) I said that because we actually can prevent that at some point the application stop working due to a critical error.
All that, by the way, is the true value that QA can add: the prevention of future issues.
Let me tell you that the value is not always tangible. We tend to believe that it will result in an economic remuneration. But, aside from that economic value, there are other ways to add some of it into a product. And a QA team can generate that. How? By
- Preventing risks
- Adding quality during processes
- Releasing top-notch products
- Using a methodology during development with high-quality standards
For sure, the Quality Assurance Team is the best option to give stability to your internal team and to notably improve the quality of the product. It is important to ensure that our product is seen and acquired by many people. But in order to achieve this goal, we must have a solid base during the building process. That is only possible using good processes and methods to ensure the success of our product and team.
Thank you for reading! See you next time.
