How to Improve Your QA Process & When To Do It
We’re used to associating growth with acquiring something new. But for modern businesses, it’s more important to sort out what you have instead of rushing to new solutions. With a solid base, your progress will be smoother and more potent.
And since quality is the ultimate goal for any product, today we’ll talk about quality assurance (QA). Particularly, what effect it has on your project, and how you can improve it to reach new horizons.
The Signs You Should Improve Your QA Process
QA is proactive. It strives to maintain quality-related procedures at a high-level so that the process and the outcome are competent. In other words, you don’t need to wait and see how the result turns out to know that you need a change.
Frequent Critical Bugs in Production
Last-minute bug fixing is never welcome. Yet, it happens sometimes. The most important thing is that your team amends any issues before launch. But, when critical errors consistently make their way into production, your QA process likely has gaps. Specifically, your QA measures may not be robust enough to catch mistakes in due time.
Prolonged SDLCs
If you notice long test or release cycles, check in on development and QA teams. Inefficient testing can slow down the software delivery pipeline. And delays stagger your response to market changes and customer expectations. So, inadequate QA processes not only compromise quality, but the existence of your product.
Low Test Case Reusability
Test case reusability is repurposing cases across different scenarios. It lets you minimize testing redundancy and effort. But having to create new tests for each novel situation pauses your software’s progression. Instead of moving on, you continuously go back to write another case. Such issues suggest that your team may not have sufficient skill to create versatile tests.
Effortful Test Maintenance
Changes in software requirements, features, or functionalities are common. To keep your testing effective, you need to update your test cases to account for any product modifications. But spending too much time and resources on maintenance means that your current tests aren’t optimized for lasting use. In turn, this points to failing QA processes.
Lacking Traceability
Without visibility, you can’t pinpoint what caused an issue. A deficient QA process may neglect to establish connections between requirements, test cases, and defects. And without proper performance metrics, you can’t properly assess the overall health of your SDLC, making it harder to locate weaknesses.
Limited Collaboration
Insufficient collaboration between development, testing, and other teams can lead to misunderstandings and misalignments. A weak QA process might not emphasize the importance of cross-functional teamwork. And this lack of shared understanding transforms into “escaping quality”. It slowly chips away at your product until only the useless routine is left.
Arduous Upgrades & Scaling
If you struggle with properly introducing new functionalities or scaling existing ones, your QA process needs tweaking. When the QA procedures lack adaptability, software progression becomes tedious. So, if you encounter post-production bugs, delays, or performance drops, you should reconsider how your QA functions.
Excessive Manual Testing
Manual testing is time-consuming and prone to human error. Still, for some products, it can be well beyond enough. But overreliance on manual testing in large projects can lead to unnecessary holdups and more bugs. A poor QA process might not leverage automation effectively. In a way, it would deprive your company of better and faster releases.
Degraded User Satisfaction
A decline in customer satisfaction or project success often stems from underlying QA problems. Ineffective testing procedures, insufficient collaboration, or inadequate test coverage can lead to undetected issues, impacting the overall quality of the software.
QA Process Improvement Step-by-Step
To improve something, you need to know what you’re working with. If you’ve related to some of the issues from the previous section, you already might have an idea of what you need to change. But don’t be too quick with your judgments. As practice has shown, some problems hide. And some have no relation to visible inefficiencies.
So, before you decide to fix something, make sure it needs fixing.
Analyze Your Software
Begin by thoroughly examining your software to identify potential complexities and risks. Understand the intricacies of the codebase, system architecture, and dependencies. This analysis helps pinpoint challenging areas and develop targeted testing strategies. You can engage your entire team’s project knowledge to better trace cause-effect relationships between different procedures.
Assess Your Business Goals
Align your QA efforts with the overarching business goals. Consider both the strategic objectives and the goals specific to the current development stage. This ensures that your QA process is not only focused on technical aspects but also contributes to the overall success of the product.
Investigate Existing QA Process
Evaluate your current QA process by identifying the individuals and resources involved. Understand the roles and responsibilities of team members, as well as the tools and methodologies in use. Such assessments provide insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the existing operations.
Set Priorities
Structure your QA efforts based on risk. You can first resolve critical issues and allocate resources accordingly. And making gradual changes can help see what actually works and what needs development. Focus on making smart improvements to the entire QA process. And don’t try to overhaul it once and for all. Your QA should grow together with the project.
Prepare an Improvement Plan
Trust the collective knowledge and experience of your team. It’ll help create a roadmap for enhancing the QA process. And if you feel that something is missing, collaborate with outside experts to develop a comprehensive plan.
Don’t feel overwhelmed by this task. You can reverse-engineer your ideal improvement scheme. For instance, start with simple things that can advance QA. Relate them to bigger project goals and expand to actionable steps, timelines, and measurable objectives.
Implement the Refinement Program
Go into the execution mode only when all necessary documentation and personnel are in place. With half-ready procedures, you’ll only end up with more loose ends. Ensure that everyone involved understands their roles and responsibilities. Regularly communicate progress and be ready to adapt the plan based on feedback and evolving project requirements.
QA Process Improvement Ideas
Our QA company is used to treating every project as something never seen before. It lets us fully immerse into the specifics of a particular product. And for you, such an approach would do wonders. Don’t try to implement solutions others deem helpful at once. Relate your every decision to your software.
With that in mind, the guide you’re about to read is based on our experiences over the years. Some elements might be just what you need. Others you can consider as an aspect to look out for. So, you might need other solutions. But these are a naturally good starting point for QA process improvements.
Have QA Engineers Lead Testing
If developers or other team members currently handle testing, consider bringing in dedicated QA engineers. By letting people stick to their duties, you advance their morale and performance. Your team will have more time to concentrate on their direct tasks and work on other upgrades. And QA experts’ pure knowledge will only better your quality procedures.
Hold Regular Reviews
Don’t underestimate the impact of in-depth reviews. You can find weaknesses, redundancies, bottlenecks, and better grasp what to do about them. Evaluate test coverage, overall strategy, and make necessary adjustments. You may consider:
- Automation for speeding up testing and polishing its accuracy.
- IT recruitment services to enrich your testing expertise.
- Extra manual QA, automation QA (AQA), or full-stack specialists to advance team performance.
- Seasoned QA leads or managers to organize and structure the testing process.
And remember that quality assurance is multi-faceted. So, avoid concentrating on its isolated components and view each product-related procedure as its integral part.
Establish Comprehensive Test Documentation
Always have clear and detailed test documentation. It’s a reliable reference point that lets you track progress, easily identify gaps, and gather practical insights. If you haven’t set up sufficient documentation practices, it’s best to engage QA experts. They can gather and structure all necessary info, advise on optimal recording systems, and even offer QA improvement ideas.
Set Up Procedures for Knowledge Maintenance & Transfer
To mitigate risks and ensure adaptability, involve QA engineers in requirement writing. They can create detailed documentation, infused with their insights, that you can use for:
- Onboarding.
- Training.
- Cooperation advancement, and more.
Diversify knowledge within the team, ensuring that multiple members are familiar with each aspect of the functionality. It’ll minimize dependencies on individual participants and strengthen the overall knowledge base.
Implement Automation
Automate repetitive and time-consuming tests. It’ll increase testing speed and accuracy and allow the core team to focus on more complex and critical tasks.
In case you’re not sure where to start test automation services, consider leveraging the expertise of AQA professionals or full-stack engineers. They’ll help implement and maintain automated testing frameworks, further boosting your team’s performance.
Reconsider Existing Tools
Regularly assess and update testing tools. It’s like greasing the gears in a mechanism. If you keep it healthy, it’ll serve you longer without effectiveness drops. Adopting optimal software can enhance productivity, collaboration, and equip everyone with the best resources for their tasks.
A piece of advice coming from our practice – don’t jump to popular tools straight away. Carry out a proper analysis and use your team’s knowledge to pick an option that offers most value to your project.
Adopt a Shift-Left Approach
Implement a shift-left approach to testing. This means integrating QA activities earlier in the SDLC. Shift-left is a proactive strategy that helps rectify errors fast. In other words, it improves your product’s quality and helps save costs on post-production issue amendment.
On top of that, it’ll foster better collaboration between development and QA teams, promoting a culture of quality from the project’s inception.
Listen to Your Team & Users
Encourage open communication and engage with the entire team during meetings. Their insights can drastically improve your product. And don’t forget that the quality-oriented minds of QA professionals can uniquely contribute to the development process.
Additionally, prioritize user feedback as an enhancement motherlode. Your users can find issues you didn’t view as bugs. And you’ll be able to keep up with user expectations and preferences easily, helping create a loyal customer base.
Look for Opportunities
Lastly, be open to change. If you find a certain strategy works well, it doesn’t mean you have to stick with it. Embrace new technologies, methodologies, and best practices. Continuous learning and adaptation are key to maintaining a high-quality QA process.
To Sum Up
Testing process improvement has a butterfly effect on your business. It can accelerate development, upskill team members, refine releases, and bring distant departments together. All for the seemingly unreachable goal of perfect quality. Good QA makes it all possible. You only need to optimize it for your project.
And don’t be afraid to bring in outside specialists if you need help. You’ll be surprised what a fresh yet knowledgeable expertise can do.