What is Quality Assurance & Why is it Important in DevOps?

Often times, Quality Assurance (QA) is viewed as an afterthought that is simply a bureaucratic requirement to be completed in a project when development is complete.

It turns out that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy if QA is thought to not add much value. Quality cannot be an afterthought taped on at the end of the project. Instead, it must be ingrained within the DNA of the project in its beginning phases.

Why does Quality Assurance matter?

QA focuses on preventing problems, improving development efficiency, and delivering a high-quality product that meets user expectations. This proactive approach minimizes errors, reduces costs, and enhances overall project success.

Quality Assurance is unlike Quality Control (QC), which is reactive and product-oriented, focusing on identifying and fixing defects in the final product through testing and inspections.

For example, in Manufacturing, QA may be used to implement process controls to ensure materials and components meet specifications. Quality Control is used to inspect finished products for defects before shipping.

In Healthcare, Quality Assurance is used to set protocols for patient care procedures, and QC monitors patient outcomes to identify errors in treatment.

My day-to-day experiences with Quality Assurance is in software development. For example, establishing coding standards and running unit tests to prevent bugs early.

In fact QA is an integration part of DevOps. In the DevOps methodology, QA is not a separate phase that occurs after development; instead, it’s embedded throughout the entire software development lifecycle. Here are some key aspects of how QA fits into DevOps:

Why involve Quality Assurance early

Involving the Quality Assurance team early in a project is essential to delivering a quality product in an efficient manner for several reasons…

Reason 1: More efficient use of time.

While initial development is complete, testing cannot start happening right away as QA analysts must study the requirements, create test plans/scripts/test cases and then, and only then, are they able to test. Rather than testing following the completion of the development phase, the foundations for testing can and should be laid down in parallel with development. This will result in a significant reduction of slack time for a project.

Reason 2: Better understanding of how/what to test.

It is best to involve testers early, because the initial discussions will help the QA team better understand what needs to be tested, how that testing should be conducted, what systems may be impacted and what exactly is testable.

Involving testers early allows them to gain a deeper understanding of project requirements and goals. This early insight helps define clear testing strategies, identifying the most critical areas for testing and determining how tests should be conducted. By understanding what systems are impacted, testers can map out dependencies and prioritize test cases, ensuring comprehensive coverage.

Additionally, early involvement helps identify edge cases, constraints, and specific functionalities, allowing the QA team to design more effective and targeted tests, reducing risks and improving overall product quality.

Reason 3: Optimized resource allocation.

When the QA team understands earlier what testing will encompass, they will be better able to allocate and plan which personnel/tools will be needed towards the project.

This allows the team to determine the necessary tools, testing environments, and expertise needed for the project ahead of time. Early insights also help balance workloads, avoid last-minute scrambles, and ensure the right personnel are assigned to handle specific testing challenges. Proper planning in advance ensures that testing is thorough and effective, reducing delays and optimizing project timelines.

Reason 4: More proactive thinking.

QA analysts thinking towards their testing often have some insight that developers do not have and therefore can give preemptive guidance to developers. This occurs often as QA teams may have worked on similar projects and are aware of the pitfalls that may come with it.

QA analysts often bring a unique perspective that complements developers’ views. Having worked on similar projects, QA teams are aware of common pitfalls and potential issues. This experience allows them to provide proactive feedback to developers, identifying risks and suggesting improvements before problems arise.

Early collaboration fosters a more preventive approach to development, helping teams avoid errors, optimize code quality, and build more resilient systems. This reduces the likelihood of defects and enhances the overall product quality from the start.

Reason 5: Catching issues early.

If the QA and development phase run concurrently, defects in code are caught early. Rather than defective code being deeply embedded in a complete code, time and effort will be saved by beginning to fix defects earlier in the development phase.

Involving QA early in the requirements will optimize project performance and is beneficial to all invested parties.