How to improve the product? 10 years of QA experience

Over 10 years of product development experience, our team has come to realize the value of Quality Assurance. And now there's a new challenge: software testing needs to be processed even faster and, most importantly, more efficiently.

How to improve QA? Here are 5 principles we personally follow and will gladly recommend you.

Principles of Quality Assurance

1. Each project teammate is responsible for quality

The approach of sharing a common goal to release a first-class software product creates the right team atmosphere. When all participants show respect for each other, stay proactive, and enjoy the process, the overall performance of the team is significantly higher.

2. Automation must be justified

Automated testing at each stage of the product life cycle allows us to easily assess the business risks in each version of the product. In turn, this means finding and fixing bugs at the right moment. At the same time, automation can get smarter using AI, machine learning, and analytics.

However, sometimes you can’t move on without manual testing, like in case of testing UI or UX elements. You can’t automate everything and everywhere, chasing the automate-as-much-as-possible trend. Instead, it's more important to do it correctly and in the right scope, bringing maximum benefit to both the project and the client.

3. Product testing should begin in the early stages

The main advantage of early QA involvement in the project is faster product development. The earlier testing begins, the lower the probability of errors that will disrupt the release is. Though this may prove itself difficult, the careful planning of testing and development processes is a must. You also should prepare the development team for their partial contribution to the QA process in terms of high-quality code testing and automation.

4. Test cases should be updated regularly

Every member of the team must understand that if all the tests are successful, they can start assembling. If a test fails, it's most likely that a defect is in the system, not in the test script, and the problem needs to be addressed. This approach allows you to continuously release products. Besides, it promotes responsibility as the obligatory quality to be possessed by the whole team.

5. The QA and AQA team must develop continuously

IT is an area where you may find yourself on the fringes of industry in the blink of an eye. You can’t just read one book about testing and expect to be on top of QA for upcoming decades. The truth is in necessary systematic improvement, including testing skills, technical knowledge, and even soft skills.

Another reason is that new technologies, which appear every year, come in handy when testing a product. So, being up-to-date is a must-have skill for every QA specialist.

QA trends for 2022

What technologies have all the chances to enter the daily life of a QA engineer? Let’s find out.

The QAOps role will appear in the QA team

QAOps is a practice of combining quality assurance (QA) and continuous CI/CD. Following this approach, QA engineers work closely with development and operations teams.

Implementing QAOps means giving the testing team a more important role in the software development lifecycle. The basis of the QAOps process is CI/CT/CD, which incorporates continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous delivery.

Codeless automation of testing

Automating software testing that doesn't require code will affect the scope of QA. Codeless testing tools have been updated through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to create test cases.

This approach is also known as scriptless automation as it offers an alternative to writing test cases. Examples of these tools are Ghost Inspector, Testsigma, and Ranorex.

The use of AI and ML will increase

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are already widely used for test automation in 2021. They enable efficient allocation of resources for QA, provide accurate monitoring of software performance, and ensure proper execution of automated tests. Test cases are created based on user behaviour, which helps to develop software products that meet the specific customers' expectations and requests.

The role of Quality Assurance can hardly be exaggerated. Even the most careful developer can error on their way to the app's release. Writing a bug-free program that takes into account all customer scenarios is a challenge. That's why we value our QA team so much! To join it, please, send us your CV at our website.