The Basics of Risk Management in QA Teams

The concept of management is used in various contexts due to the many aspects it can regard. In the IT field, risk management is one of the basic terms that should be familiar to specialists. All development activities involve risks. Organizations have to invent effective coping mechanisms to handle those risks.

With that said, a standard step-by-step risk management model implies identification, analysis, subsequent assessment, and treatment of the unfavorable conditions. If done right, it results in preventing any kind of negative effect on the processes or their outcomes.

Throughout this process, teams involved in a project should communicate with stakeholders – they approve all decisions when certain risks arise. The tricky thing is that, in addition to the general pool, each team and each development phase has a specific set of risks. In this article, we’ll tell a bit about those a software testing company or a dedicated QA team usually encounters.

What Is Risk in Software Testing?

There are several definitions of the risk rooted in different contexts and peculiarities of software products. In a sense, every risk is proportional to its probability and expected losses. Thus, the differences in the definitions depend on the context of a potential loss, its assessment, and measurement. We would suggest the following definition:

Risk assessment as a process aims to answer the following questions:

• What can happen?
• Why can it happen?
• What will be the consequences?
• How high is the probability of this outcome?
• What factors can reduce the risk probability?
• Is the risk acceptable or not?
• Will it require further processing?

What Is Risk Management?

It would be easier to define risk management by listing the activities this process includes. So, risk management means to:

• know the issues your team may face;
• understand the degree of importance of each problem;
• arrange the risks in descending order in terms of the severity of the problem;
• develop and implement measures for prevention of the most severe issues;
• What factors can reduce the risk probability?
• check the effectiveness of the activities, making sure the applied measures help;
• and evaluate the work done in general.

To control risk manifestation, IT companies develop risk management systems. These systems are meant for monitoring the path to achieving the set business goals. Risk management systems:

• consider statistical data from the incident management process;
• assess factors that affect the level of risk;
• analyze the statistics of their implementation.

A risk management system helps to develop measures for minimizing risks and assess the effectiveness of these measures. Also, it helps to optimize the use of IT services at all levels.

Not all IT companies have a system of continuous risk management. The reason lies in the significant investments a comprehensive IT risk management system requires. The telecom, banking, and financial industries probably utilize IT risk management systems the most actively. These spheres are strictly regulated by the government – in particular, because of the concerns regarding sensitive data protection.

Many businesses in other industries have also recognized the importance of IT risk management and started to address the correlation between business performance and IT risks.

Risk Management Steps

Team and project leaders should continually monitor the risks during all phases of the project. The risk management process consists of the following stages:

1. Detection

2. Analysis & prioritization

3. Planning

4. Monitoring

5. Correction

6. Conclusions

It is essential to reassess the risks regularly as they can change or evolve with time. QA and development teams may need to modify their plans of prevention and mitigation of the potential issues.

Risk Management vs Quality Assurance

Risk management is decision-driven. It seeks to establish approaches, processes, and prevention tactics to minimize the occurrence of issues or their negative impact. Meanwhile, QA strives to verify that the procedures for quality enhancement are indeed effective and lasting.

With testing, for example, QA experts would need to find out whether the current quality of the product is compliant with the requirements. This is done either by confirming there are no defects or by locating errors and eliminating them. So, risk management and quality assurance focus on the following questions, respectively:

• How can we set up the system to minimize/eradicate risks (i.e., to improve the quality)?
• What can we do to maintain stable risk levels (i.e., to preserve the quality)?

Thus, in fact, there should be no ‘risk management vs quality assurance’ perspective within a project – one cannot replace the other. In reality, they complement each other, maximizing the quality. And naturally, the best approach is to combine the two so that experts in both fields can work together to create the optimal quality achievement strategy.

Common Risks in Software Testing & QA

Poor communication with a customer

The lack of efficient communication between the parties carries the most severe risk for a product. Hopefully, it is possible to prevent undesirable outcomes by asking questions. A request to clarify a specific moment helps to save valuable resources and meet the deadlines.

Frequently changing requirements

Too frequent changes in the requirements can result in a resource gap or exhaustion. It can affect both financial and human factors. Moreover, it puts product quality and meeting deadlines at risk.

Incorrect prioritization

Sometimes customers focus on the little things too much, letting significant aspects shift to the background. As a result, a team has to pay too much attention to the secondary features while neglecting the main functionality. It is a good idea to define product highlights early. Still, the core functionality should be a priority.

In Conclusion

Risks in quality assurance in particular and software development in general are commonplace. Thus, there is no point in being afraid of risks. While effective risk management practices and scenarios greatly depend on project size and budget, there are some things every team can apply. Hold regular meetings, share information, and motivate all team members to stay on the same page. It will help to solve issues immediately without letting them cause any severe risks.