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What is Software Quality and why should we care?
Software Testing is a means of validation and verification of a delivery against a set of needs or requirements. But, to fully understand the role of a software quality engineer or quality advocate, we need to explore the depths of software quality assurance and why it should be a focal point for all involved in software delivery.
5 min read
The Quality Challenge: More Than Just Bugs
Software quality is more than finding bugs; it’s about delivering reliable, efficient, and secure software that meets or exceeds user expectations. At its core, software quality is about risk management. It involves understanding not only what the system is supposed to do but also its failure points and how it behaves under both expected and unexpected conditions.
Every team member must be involved in ensuring quality, from the earliest stages of the project to delivery. The role of quality engineering is not limited to ticking boxes in test cases. Instead, it includes facilitating discussions that lead to a better understanding of how a system should function. This requires effective communication between stakeholders, developers, testers, and product owners.
The Myth of "Perfect Software"
While quality is the goal, achieving perfect software is unrealistic. We need to acknowledge that software, by its very nature, is prone to change, growth, and even failure. As such, not everything can be tested. It’s impossible to foresee every use case or combination of events that may occur once the software is in the real world. Hence, testing is a risk-based activity. This involves prioritising which areas of the system to test based on the potential impact of failure.
At the end of the day, software quality is about reducing risk, not eliminating it entirely. The question we should ask is not "Is it perfect?" but "Is it good enough?"—meaning, can it meet the defined requirements and fulfil the business needs without major issues?
Rubbish In > Rubbish Out
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Shifting Left: The Evolution of Testing
The "Shift Left" approach has revolutionised the role of quality professionals. This concept is about getting involved in the process as early as possible, from the requirements phase all the way to deployment. In traditional waterfall models, testers were often brought in only after the software was almost fully developed. The challenge here was that issues were detected late, when it was costly and time-consuming to address them.
With Agile and DevOps methodologies, we now have an opportunity to bring quality to the forefront of the development lifecycle. Testing early, often referred to as "continuous testing", allows teams to identify and fix problems before they escalate. Quality engineers and advocates are no longer merely gatekeepers at the end of the process—they are collaborators who help define what success looks like from the very beginning.
Incorporating early feedback loops, automated testing, and integrating static testing methods during requirement analysis allows for higher quality input. After all, the phrase “Rubbish In > Rubbish Out” rings true. A poorly defined requirement or user story will lead to a flawed end product, regardless of how well the team executes it.
Quality is Everyone's Responsibility
It’s tempting to view quality as the sole responsibility of the testing team, but quality cannot and should not be the sole domain of one function. It's a team-wide effort, requiring collaboration between developers, testers, business analysts, product owners, and even stakeholders.
The reality is that quality runs through the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), from the moment requirements are written to the final deployment. If any link in the chain is weak, it can compromise the quality of the entire product. Everyone from the product owner who writes user stories to the developer who writes code has a stake in ensuring quality.
The Risk-Based Approach to Testing
Since we can’t test everything, a risk-based approach helps guide testing efforts. But how do we define risk? The risk has two primary components:
- Business Risk: This is tied to the potential impact on the business. If a failure in the system could result in lost revenue, damaged reputation, or regulatory penalties, it’s a high-risk area.
- Technical Risk: This relates to the complexity or novelty of the code being developed. New, untested technologies or complicated integrations increase technical risk.
By weighing both business and technical risks, we can prioritise testing efforts, focusing on areas that are likely to cause the most damage if they fail. This risk-based approach helps maximise the efficiency of testing, ensuring that limited resources are used where they are most needed.
The Growing Role of Automation in Software Quality
Another trend in software quality is the increased use of automation. Automation allows teams to continuously validate that code changes meet the expected quality standards. From unit tests to integration tests to full end-to-end system checks, automated testing tools help reduce manual effort and provide faster feedback loops.
However, automation is not a silver bullet. It's important to understand that automated tests complement, but don’t replace, manual testing. Human testers still play a critical role in areas that require creative thinking, such as exploratory testing and usability testing, where intuition and user empathy are key. Combining automated tests for repeatable tasks and manual testing for critical, user-focused tasks is the key to a well-rounded testing strategy.
Final Thoughts: A Culture of Quality
Ultimately, achieving high software quality requires a shift in mindset. It’s not enough to hire a few testers and expect them to ensure the quality of a product. A culture of quality must be cultivated within the entire organisation. This means ensuring that every team member feels accountable for the quality of their work and that quality is considered at every stage of the development process.
Quality-focused professionals, like you, play a pivotal role in fostering this mindset by encouraging early involvement, promoting communication, and driving a risk-based, continuous testing approach.
Join Us! This blog post is just the beginning. Together, we can ensure software quality becomes the responsibility of every stakeholder in the software development process, creating better products and delivering real value to end users.
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