When it comes to the Quality Assurance vs Quality Control debate of digital products, it is common to see these terms being used interchangeably. Although both address crucial quality requirements for any business working with software, there are important differences that need to be considered.
Quality management is an essential aspect of the development of a digital product. Whether you are undergoing a mobile app development or web development project, guaranteeing product quality is an absolute must. Fulfilling quality requirements is necessary if you want your business to succeed. Sending a substandard product to the market might have irreversible consequences on your brand image. For this and other reasons, it is crucial to implement Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC).
A common mistake most companies make is focusing excessively on hitting the market fast, sacrificing the implementation of a robust quality system. This is understandable, but business goals should never bypass the importance of product quality.
Understanding the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control will help you improve your product. That way, when you hit the market, you can be confident that the risk of bugs and other errors will be minimized.
Quality Management: Quality Assurance Vs Quality Control
No matter the type of software or digital product you are building, it is an absolute must that your project management team has a clear understanding of the software development life cycle. Even more important, you should make sure they work using the software testing life cycle.
In other words, you should have a team that sees the benefits of having a quality management system to guarantee that the quality requirements of your projects are met. Implementing a quality system that focuses on developing software by prioritizing Quality Assurance instead of Quality Control can help your team move from a reactive process to a preventive one. In the long run, this will bring you many benefits.
Quality Management Systems
Quality management systems are crucial to the success of any software development project. Even the best development teams are prone to errors, so making sure that everything works fine helps reduce potential errors, which in turn increases the satisfaction of your users and your company’s bottom line.
Implementing a quality management system to build software is easier said than done. Projects have deadlines to meet, issues to solve, and a budget to keep an eye on. Additionally, different technicalities need consideration. Among these last, we find the crucial aspects associated with Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
For many project managers, Quality Assurance and Quality Control look exactly alike. As mentioned above, they are sometimes even used interchangeably. However, there are significant differences to consider.
For the case of quality management for the development of digital products, Quality Assurance tends to be more important than Quality Control. Let’s take a look at them and see how they differ. That way, you will guarantee product quality for your organization and its users.
Quality Control
Quality Control encompasses the aspects necessary to guarantee quality requirements. Often, Quality Control is associated with a manufacturing process. It can be used to identify defects once a product is finished. Although Quality Control is mostly used for physical goods, it can also be relevant for software.
In general, Quality Control activities are oriented towards statistical process control, also known as statistical quality control. This can be very useful to address certain product defects, but it often fails to guarantee software quality due to the nature of its processes.
When building software, it is best to have a preventive rather than a reactive approach like Quality Control. Software with bugs will be annoying for users. Additionally, there are certain cases when lacking a quality system can be lethal. Software powers many of the things we do, and a bug in a critical process can literally cost lives, like in the case of airplanes or other vehicles that malfunction. It is critical to prevent those errors in the first place.
Contrary to Quality Assurance, Quality Control focuses mostly on the end product rather than the actual development process. This approach has its advantages for certain use cases. However, focusing on the process is extremely important when it comes to writing code. Teams that work with an Agile culture understand this, and that is why they guarantee product quality throughout the process.
Because of these reasons, when it comes to software development, it is often more convenient to opt for Quality Assurance rather than the traditional Quality Control approach.
Quality Assurance
Unlike Quality Control, Quality Assurance focuses mostly on prevention and processes. This makes Quality Assurance activities ideal when developing software. It helps identify potential risks before users do.
Users are very demanding in terms of the digital tools they use, and they don’t want to find themselves dealing with bugs or other errors. By using a Quality Assurance approach, you will be able to prevent threats from happening in the first place.
Quality Assurance tests will help you keep an eye on the different activities throughout your product’s life cycle. That way, you can rest assured that potential threats will be detected and addressed before they become a serious issue.
QA engineers perform the best Quality Assurance. Having them on your team will increase your product’s chances of success. They have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform Quality Assurance tests, allowing them to monitor the critical stages of the development process and implement fixes along the way.
Implement Quality Assurance
Both Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) are necessary to guarantee the success of your digital product. However, when it comes to building a world-class product like an app, opting for a Quality Assurance-first approach has many more benefits than focusing primarily on Quality Control.
Most organizations don’t have the resources necessary to implement Quality Assurance. Doing this important process correctly requires technical expertise and the right testing tools. That is why many companies choose to work with a third party.
Make sure to find a development company that understands what your project needs. That way, you will be able to guarantee its quality, delight your users, and achieve your business objectives.
Move past the Quality Assurance vs Quality Control debate and say goodbye to those nasty bugs.
