A big part of testing is making sure that the product you are working on is going to be a highly reliable, quality piece of software. Quality assurance is a big part of testing as a poorly designed product could mean bad news later on down the line. Softwaretestinghelp.com recently posted a blog that dives into this subject.
The first thing that stood out to me in the blog was a formula: Quality assurance = quality control + defect prevention. This formal makes a lot of sense to be. One of the main goals of testing is making sure it works as it should and if it doesn’t making sure someone knows it needs to be fixed. That is the quality control portion of the equation. The second part, defect prevention, is preventing bugs from getting into the software in the first place or recognizing a problem before it happens. I feel if you complete testing with confidence that those two items have been completed, you have done your job as a tester.
Now, how might one go about making sure they hit the mark with the formula? First of all, reviews are a very important aspect. This includes design reviews, specification reviews, code reviews, etc. I cannot express the importance of reviews. Getting other sets of eyes on things are crucial to making sure nothing is missed. From my experience at work, reviews are done for anything and everything, and if a review isn’t done it usually sent out with a disclaimer that whatever is being sent out is a draft. It will bite you if you don’t. Another important step to meeting the requirements of the formula is logging any issues that may have been find when testing. Any issue, not matter how small, should be logged and investigated to determine the problem and if any action is needed. This relates to the next item of the list, which is finding the root of the problem. Often a bunch of little issues that have to keep being fended off are really due to some underlying issue. It is important to make sure that you find the real issue, and not just cover it up. Lastly, make sure as a tester you utilize the resources you have available to you, especially your manager. They have the ability to get you what you need and probably know that quickest way to get it. Most of the time they are more than willing to help as your work reflects on them as well.
This blog provided a nice intro into testing with quality assurance in mind. I found their thoughts to be intriguing and will be on the lookout for more blogs like this one considering how important quality assurance is to a piece of software.
Link:
http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/defect-prevention-methods/
README 