Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality Assurance is the proactive process of defining quality standards and building checks into the delivery process to prevent defects rather than catching them afterward.

QA vs QC:

• Quality Assurance (QA): Process-focused, preventive - ensuring right processes are followed
• Quality Control (QC): Product-focused, detective - testing and inspecting deliverables

Types of testing:

• Unit testing: Testing individual components in isolation
• Integration testing: Testing how components work together
• System testing: Testing the complete system end-to-end
• User acceptance testing (UAT): Business users verifying requirements are met
• Performance testing: Verifying system performance under load
• Regression testing: Ensuring changes do not break existing functionality

QA best practices:

• Define quality standards before development begins
• Implement automated testing for repeatable checks
• Include QA in the Definition of Done
• Test early and continuously
• Use peer reviews as quality gates
• Track defect metrics to identify patterns
• Involve end users in UAT before deployment

QA in Agile:

• Testing happens within each sprint
• The whole team owns quality
• Automated tests enable continuous integration
• Acceptance criteria drive test creation
• Definition of Done includes quality requirements