7 Best Practices to Achieve Better Results in Quality Assurance

Introduction

With the world moving towards digital transformation, there has been a rising focus on software testing.

Digital transformation is inevitable, as the use of the latest digital technologies can make your business operations effective and creative.

They let you stay ahead of the competition in no time.

The digital developments and innovations around mobile, social media and the Internet of Things play an indispensable role in this transformation.

Research says that Quality Assurance is the root cause of the majority of software startup failures.

QA has become an indispensable part of IT and other business operations. The purpose of effective Quality Assurance is to avoid poor quality products for end-users.

A well planned and executed quality assurance process not only assures the quality of the product but also ensures the success of the product and smooth business operations.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.” – John Ruskin

Imagine your product releasing without proper QA. Probably there will be lots of complaints from your customers, which is not a good sign of your product.

The only way to achieve a high-quality product is to have in place an effective QA process.

Here are a few best practices that will be helpful to you in obtaining extraordinary results in Quality Assurance:

1. Outsource QA

Your company can reap many benefits from QA. Hence, it is recommended to have a dedicated inhouse QA team.

This will make your organization stand out of the ordinary in the crowd and enhance the ROI of your business.

It is equally recommended to outsource the QA department so that you can concentrate on other aspects of business in a prerequisite manner, you require few people for the stratification as well as the development of overall aspects of software testing.

Some of the Benefits of Outsourcing QA

• Save time, money and efforts in maintaining an in-house QA team.
• One less thing to worry about as the job will be taken care of by QA professionals.
• Outsourcing enables you to concentrate on your core business process.

2. Additional Integration

You need to find new opportunities and bring the same to the team to add to the development process of your Quality Assurance department.

As you start involving the QA team more often, more quickly you will be capable of getting their feedback.

This will help you in gaining success in iterating as well as adjusting in no time.

You should let the testers go for QA on an extensive scale at different stages of SDLC or product lifecycle, indicating that you will gain success in procuring the crucial feedback loop in no time at a faster rate.

3. Take QA Seriously

To procure more benefits from QA, it is important to make Quality Assurance a top priority.

You will get amazing results by letting the QA team work hard till the end of the process.

The one thing you have to keep in mind is to set up the right kind of strategies in case you are willing to make a head start for improvement in quality assurance.

You should also look for different ways to make QA a part of the revenue generation team instead of a cost center.

4. Integration at an Earlier Stage

Now that you have followed step #2, you should make sure the Quality assurance process is involved at an earlier stage.

This assures better release time. According to different studies, businesses who include QA as an integral part of their operations every year find an increase in the revenue of their business in no time.

5. Go for Automation

The first step is finding new ways to automate those test cases which are repetitive.

It does not indicate that you should burn a huge hole in your pocket to automate each and everything as it is a massive undertaking and there are high chances that you may end up spending a lot to build test scripts and consistently monitor the same.

The best option is to hire a test automation services provider and install servers that will be capable of handling the automated tests effectively.

6. Implementation of the Scalable Approach

The use of crowdsourced testers for the expansion of testing sources is a very good idea. Because you have access to testers who can complete the test cases without hiring new employees.

7. Make Use of Test Automation Frameworks

If you have tested a software application manually, then you know the importance of the Test Automation Framework.

A framework is an outline, structure or guideline that drives everything to produce better results.

The implementation of the Test automation framework in the operations of your business indicates that you will have the necessary tools for the development of the business which will be useful for the delivery of software at speed, scale, and profit.

The right test automation framework ensures the test scripts are executed effectively. Some of the benefits of Test Automation Framework are

• Minimal manual intervention.
• Scalability.
• Re-usability.
• Save money.
• Easy maintenance.

Conclusion

The more your business grows the more resources you will need for Quality Assurance.

It is necessary to let the products you develop undergo a smart quality assurance process as they will help your product stand ahead in the crowd.

Having sufficient people or a budget for the quality team is not enough to procure the best results in QA.

You need to implement the right strategies for the implementation of Quality Assurance on an extensive scale.

If you merely keep spending money on people and resources without picking the right strategy, you will not achieve the results as expected.

Further Reading

Quality Assurance Approach and Best Practices

The 6 Essential QA Blogs to Read in 2019

Why Is Software Testing and QA Important for Any Business?