Quality Assurance, Quality Control, and Quality Management: The Must-Knows

Quality Management vs Quality Assurance vs Quality Control in Software Testing

Interestingly enough, QA and QM evolved from QC. The original practice of quality control was “testers” manually checking a product’s features to locate defects. Soon, businesses realized that preventing errors instead of fixing them was more cost-effective. The key to that was improving quality-related procedures.

That’s how QA was born. Instead of locating mistakes after they occurred, quality assurance focused on adapting workflows and teams. It allowed them to build better processes, capable of predicting and blocking defects before they became a part of a build. QA worked out so well that companies wanted to broaden its benefits.

So, QM entered the stage to engage every resource and crew member in achieving quality. That’s how we got cross-functional teams, leadership guidance, and closer collaboration with customers (user-centricity).

Further, the introduction of Agile, shift-left testing, DevOps, etc., made this lovely trio into a singular unit of quality. QM, QC, and QA have amalgamated to the point of creating an entirely new practice. This successor combined every good thing about the three approaches and brought them to a new level.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

What Is Quality Assurance vs Quality Control vs Quality Management

To fully understand QC, QA, and QM, we need to take a look at what they mean in modern software development.

Modern Quality Control

QC remains focused on detecting and correcting defects. But it now includes advanced automation testing services, monitoring, and real-time feedback. Here are a few examples of what QC handles currently:

• Running automated test suites after each code update to detect bugs in existing features.
• Using tools to monitor applications in real time and catch performance issues.
• Employing AI-based software to compare UI changes to baseline screenshots and flag inconsistencies.

So, you could say that the QC of today is the in-progress verifications that keep an app’s quality in check.

Modern Quality Assurance

QA is now a collaborative, proactive practice. It’s embedded in every development phase, ensuring processes and systems are designed to produce high-quality outcomes. Modern QA emphasizes prevention over detection. It centers on:

• Writing test cases alongside development to catch defects in the process.
• Ensuring code meets predefined tests before implementation.
• QA teams actively participating in sprint planning to align on quality expectations.

The simplest way to think about QA is to consider it as everything that happens before testing itself. At the same time, QC has an effect on QA. As the results of quality control can tell if there are any issues with quality assurance. For instance, if there are too many bugs, then certain processes must be polished. So, when it comes to quality control vs assurance, there’s a bit of back and forth.

Modern Quality Management

QM is a systematic, organization-wide approach to ensuring that all processes, teams, and tools contribute to delivering a quality product. Unlike QA or QC, which focus on specific aspects, QM looks at the bigger picture:

• How does the organization define, measure, and continuously improve quality?
• How do all departments (not just production or development) contribute to quality outcomes?

Basically, QM takes QA and QC’s principles and applies them on a larger scale. Here are a few instances of what quality management does:

• Integrating user feedback into iterative product improvements.
• Using metrics like defect density or Net Promoter Score to refine processes.
• Ensuring products meet industry standards (e.g., ISO 9001) and regulatory requirements.

Overall, while we’re trying to define QM, QA, and QC processes, separately, they typically work in tandem rather than on their own.

• Automated testing (QC) is part of CI/CD pipelines designed through QA processes, ensuring quality at every stage (QM).
• Monitoring tools (QC) inform preventive QA measures and QM’s long-term strategies.
• Cross-functional collaboration (QM) ensures testing (QC) and preventive planning (QA) are aligned.

And honestly, if they were to function independently, development would be a lot more chaotic. The contemporary lack of any silos between these three practices is what makes them work so well.

Differences between Quality Control, Quality Assurance, & Quality Management

Still, to use each quality method correctly, we need to review their differences.

QC is about checking the product to ensure it meets the required standards. It’s a hands-on process involving inspections and testing to identify defects or issues.

QA is about building confidence in processes so that the product consistently meets quality expectations. Instead of testing the final product, QA ensures the methods and workflows used to create the product are effective and efficient.

QM is the big-picture strategy that ties everything together. It oversees all quality-related activities, ensuring they align with organizational goals. QM encompasses both QA and QC while emphasizing customer satisfaction, compliance, and long-term improvement.

To summarize it all simply:

• QC = testing the product.
• QA = building the process.
• QM = managing the overall quality ecosystem.

Let’s take a closer look at quality management vs quality assurance vs quality control examples that are most relevant to your team.

Roles Involved in Quality Control vs Quality Assurance vs Quality Management

When it comes to quality assurance vs control roles, there’s usually a significant overlap in skills. In other words, QA specialists can take on QC responsibilities as well. So, you don’t need distinct expertise to handle the latter. Still, depending on your team’s structure and workflow preferences, you can divide QC and QA duties or gather them under one crew.

QC roles focus on inspecting, testing, and identifying defects.

• Software Tester executes test cases, reports defects, and ensures that the software meets the defined functional requirements.
• Automation Engineer creates automated tests for repetitive and regression tasks.
• Performance Engineer specializes in testing software’s performance under different load conditions.
• Defect Manager tracks and oversees the life cycle of bugs. They manage defect prioritization, resolution, and retesting.
• Test Lead is responsible for coordinating test execution, reporting progress, and ensuring that testing is done on schedule.

QA roles ensure that the processes are designed to meet quality standards.

• Quality Engineer designs and implements testing processes. They work closely with developers to identify potential issues early in the development cycle.
• Test Manager develops test strategies, test plans, and test cases that define the scope and approach for software testing.
• Automation Architect builds the framework and strategy for test automation.
• Risk Manager identifies, assesses, and mitigates risks throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Process Improvement Specialist works on improving development and testing processes.
• Continuous Integration Engineer ensures that automated testing is integrated into the CI/CD pipeline.

QM roles center on maintaining overall quality systems, establishing quality policies, and ensuring compliance with standards.

• Quality Manager ensures adherence to quality policies, meeting KPIs, and alignment with quality standards.
• Compliance Manager secures adhesion to regulatory standards and industry-specific requirements.
• Product Manager defines quality metrics, requirements, and ensures alignment with market needs.
• Process Auditor conducts audits to ensure compliance with the defined quality standards, frameworks, and regulations.
• Change Manager handles changes to the software development process, including new features, bug fixes, or architectural updates.
• Training and Development Lead is responsible for ensuring that all team members are well-versed in quality management practices, tools, and standards.

You could say that QA is building a quality process; QC is executing the quality procedures; and QM is implementing quality activities across the company. And each method would need distinct specialists to handle these.

Procedures in Quality Control vs Quality Management vs Quality Assurance

Activities involved in QC, QA, and QM differ based on the project. You decide what to include in each approach. So, there’s no static list of procedures. But if we focus on the characteristics and purposes of this trio, then we can somewhat clearly split relevant operations.

QC procedures are hands-on activities.

• Executing testing (functional, regression, performance, etc.).
• Inspecting code to ensure it follows coding standards and practices.
• Recording and tracking defects identified during testing.
• Documenting test results, defects, and overall product quality.
• Conducting final checks and validation before the software is deployed or released.

QA procedures are mostly concerned with planning and monitoring.

• Establishing best practices, methodologies, and workflows for software development and testing.
• Creating detailed test plans and writing test cases.
• Developing automated tests.
• Implementing CI/CD pipelines.
• Regularly reviewing development and testing processes to ensure adherence to quality standards.
• Identifying potential risks early in the development and taking proactive steps to mitigate them.
• Ensuring that teams are well-trained in quality standards, testing tools, and best practices.

QM procedures focus on the implementation of quality aspects within a company as a whole.

• Developing and maintaining a QMS that outlines processes, standards, roles, and responsibilities.
• Defining KPIs to monitor and evaluate software quality.
• Holding security audits, privacy reviews, and accessibility checks.
• Managing quality-related documentation such as test cases, test results, and design specifications.
• Evaluating the impact of changes, testing their effects, and ensuring that the change process doesn’t introduce issues.
• Performing audits, assessing the quality of external tools, or evaluating the reliability of vendors.
• Identifying and addressing the root causes of defects and inefficiencies.
• Reviewing the performance of the development process, quality metrics, and project progress.
• Gathering feedback from users and stakeholders for continuous improvement.

Quality management is the obvious outlier here. It’s the most complicated approach, requiring significant organizational changes. While you can create a good product without it, sustained growth and consistent quality would be challenging to achieve with QA and QC only.

Tools & Technologies in Quality Management vs Quality Control vs Quality Assurance

This aspect of QM, QC, and QA is rather tricky. The tools and technologies you use depend on the approach you’re using. But they’re mostly affected by how you choose to do things and how you can do them. So, it’s less about the method you rely on (QC, QA, or QM) and more about your team’s skills and present processes.

QC tools are used to:

• Provide structured environments for writing and executing test cases (testing frameworks).
• Automate test execution.
• Track and manage the defects identified during testing.
• Evaluate the software’s behavior under different loads and stress conditions.
• Analyze source code to detect potential issues.
• Assist in gathering and managing feedback from end-users during user acceptance testing.

QA tools are used to:

• Organize, maintain, and track test cases.
• Automate testing.
• Automate the process of integrating code changes and continuously testing the software.
• Manage and control the various software configurations during development.
• Facilitate peer reviews of code.
• Identify and track potential risks during development.

QM tools are used to:

• Manage the overall software development lifecycle, from planning and resource allocation to monitoring progress.
• Manage and store quality documentation such as test plans, test cases, defect logs, and process documents.
• Ensure that the software development process adheres to relevant industry standards, legal requirements, and internal quality policies.
• Collect and analyze data from testing, development, and deployment phases.
• Identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the development process.
• Enhance communication and collaboration between teams.
• Ensure that any changes in the software development process are controlled and documented.

With this, we see a clear separation into product (QC), process (QA), and organization (QM). But there’s a small issue.

Quality Assurance vs Quality Control

In the IT of today, quality assurance and quality control are kind of the same thing. Think about it: process (QA) informs testing activities (QC), and testing activities affect the process. You may think that it’s still QA vs QC. They are related but separate practices. Allow us to explain why it’s not really the case.

We’ve talked about how QA evolved from QC. “Testers” became QA engineers. They’re now involved in many processes, not just defect hunting. And the expertise of these specialists allows them to both design and execute quality activities. Typically, QA engineers can do the following:

• Plan QA strategy and tests.
• Analyze requirements.
• Designing and developing test cases.
• Executing tests and handling reporting.
• Ensuring collaboration and communication.
• Set up automation.
• Work toward process improvement.
• Carry out performance and security testing.
• Defining and analyzing quality metrics.
• Handling training and mentoring.

So, you can see that QA roles are perfectly capable of covering QC. Plus, the one true difference between quality assurance and quality control is that one is proactive, the other is reactive. These two are kind of separated into “before” and “after.” But this division is due to older methodologies, like Waterfall.

Now, there’s no severance in software development. Testing and process improvements are continuous. And thus, when we see the question, “What is the difference between quality control and quality assurance?” the only logical answer we can give is:

• QA defines what to do.
• And QC does it.

That’s the only separation point between this duo. For some, this way is better. It allows companies to select targeted activities, assign duties, etc. For others, segregating QA from QC may be redundant. And it might be easier to have one team manage both.

Overall, it’s a matter of preference. If quality assurance and quality control differences are significant for your project, you’re free to keep them independent. For example, say you already have a defined QA process. But you don’t have enough people to run testing. Then, you could hire a crew or use software testing outsourcing specifically for that. This gives your new members a clear task and avoids duty overlap.

In the opposite scenario, QC can be a part of QA, not a separate approach to quality. And you can just have a dedicated QA team who handles both.

QA, QC, QM, & Quality Engineering

Remember we mentioned a QC, QA, QM successor at the beginning? It’s time to talk about it. The youngest approach, developed in the 2000s, and the next step of quality evolution – quality engineering.

This behemoth unifies every method we’ve talked about and amplifies their benefits. QE’s sole mission is to make quality the number one priority. So, if QC is about the product, QA is about the process, and QM is about the organization, then QE is all about quality. In everything.

QE asks: “What can we do here to make this as close to perfection as possible?”

It handles anything that can affect your project, from requirements design to team upskilling. And honestly, we love it. QM, QC, and QA seem to separate quality into distinct phases or activities. QE, on the other hand, says that quality shouldn’t be ever separate. It needs to be at the core of your company’s every move.

Quality engineering is a phenomenal concept. And it deserves more of your attention. So, feel free to check out our article on it. For now, we move on.

How to Improve Your Quality Framework

Alright, you’ve had enough theory at this point. Let’s talk practice. Now that we’re on the same page about quality approaches, we should discuss how you can implement and improve them.

We don’t want to give you rigid instructions. How you do things should be based on your project and goals, not a manual. So, instead, we’ll focus on tips and best practices that can help advance your QC, QA, and QM.

Foster a Culture of Quality Across the Organization

Set up a shared responsibility model where everyone, from developers to product managers, takes ownership of quality. Hold regular meetings with all teams to discuss quality goals, challenges, and solutions. Encourage input from everyone. The key is to make quality a part of the company’s culture, not just a final check.

Implement Comprehensive & Well-Defined Quality Metrics

Define clear quality metrics like defect density, test coverage, and bug resolution times. Track these over time to see progress and identify areas for improvement. If defects are found after production, it could signal a need to adjust testing earlier in the development process. Review these metrics regularly with your team to spot any issues.

Adopt a Holistic, End-to-End Quality Strategy

Involve QA engineers early in planning so they can help define testable requirements from the start. Use a shift-left approach to testing, meaning testing starts early, even before development with methods like test-driven development. This way, problems are caught earlier and fixed faster.

Focus on Automation & Continuous Feedback

Automate repetitive testing tasks, like regression or performance tests, to save time and reduce errors. Integrate these automated tests into your development pipeline so they run every time the code is updated. Immediate feedback helps quickly identify issues and fix them before they become bigger problems.

Conduct Regular Retrospectives & Process Reviews

After each development phase, hold a retrospective meeting where the team can discuss what went well and what could be improved. Focus on processes, tools, and team collaboration. Identify any bottlenecks or issues and use the feedback to make the next phase more efficient.

Empower Teams with the Right Tools & Training

Provide your team with the best tools for managing tests, tracking bugs, and collaborating. Make sure everyone is trained in how to use these tools and understands quality routines, like writing testable code or creating effective test cases. Ongoing training helps the team stay up to date with new technologies and best practices.

Prioritize Quality Early in the Product Lifecycle

Involve QA from the beginning of the planning and design phases to ensure features are clearly defined and testable. Set clear, agreed-upon acceptance criteria so dev teams can easily measure when a feature is complete.

Encourage Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication

Hold regular meetings with your crew to discuss quality issues and solutions. Foster open communication to ensure everyone understands the project’s quality goals and can share their ideas and concerns. Developers may offer insight on optimizing tests, while QA engineers can help spot risks early.

Support Continuous Improvement Through Iterative Processes

Break the development process into smaller cycles or phases, allowing for regular feedback and quick adjustments. Continuously assess your processes to remove inefficiencies, such as unnecessary tasks or duplicate efforts.

Establish Clear Governance & Compliance Processes

Define clear rules and procedures for quality, ensuring everyone knows the standards they need to follow. This includes coding standards, testing protocols, and industry regulations. Regularly audit your processes to ensure compliance and make sure your team is adhering to these standards.

Know that you don’t have to fully overhaul your processes. You can start with small, incremental changes to start seeing some benefits. And if you’re not sure where to begin (it’s all a lot, we understand), you can use a software QA consulting service. The point of this practice is to evaluate how you’re doing things now and look for ways to improve.

Ensuring Your Quality Framework Is Productive

Now, the true best practice behind quality. The one surefire way to make your quality framework productive is to have the right people on your team. We’re talking skills, culture, and values of the crew you’re working with. Here, you have two options. Well, three, really.

• Your internal team handles everything.
• An external crew takes care of quality activities.
• Each tackles certain parts of your project.

We know that you’re already thinking that the first variant is the best. After all, your in-house team already knows your processes and standards. Plus, the members are readily available. But, of course, there are some things to consider:

• Do you have the skills necessary to take care of your quality framework?
• How will your people deal with increasing workload when your project grows?
• Will you be able to keep up with the evolving product and continue to support it?

Simply put, there’s an issue of what you have vs what you could have. So, one way or another, you’ll have no other choice but to continue to adapt your team.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have allowing external experts to step in. But here, everything isn’t peachy, either. First, we understand that many companies are hesitant to give up some control over their project. Second, there’s always the possibility of the outside crew not delivering.

The solution to the above concerns is proper research. You should examine your project to understand whether you can benefit from external specialists. And you ought to analyze the available service providers and settle on the best option. That seems like extra work. But remember that outsourced experts free your team from many tasks. So, you can focus on other activities, thus actually saving time and advancing your product faster.

We’d say that the best option is the third one. You can let your team handle some aspects of your product. And allow the outside crew to step in where they’re needed. But which approach is best should be based on your project specifics. We won’t try to push anything on you. Instead, we’ll review the pros and cons of internal and external quality handling. From there, you can decide what’s best.

Internal Quality Handling

Implementing this approach means using the resources and people already available. So, everything is taken care of by your in-house team. This close connection has significant benefits:

• Deep understanding of the company’s objectives and quality goals.
• Direct access to developers and stakeholders for swift issue resolution and collaboration.
• Familiarity with the product’s history, architecture, and requirements, enabling more context-driven quality management.
• Designing quality practices that precisely fit the company’s unique workflows and priorities.
• Knowledge accumulation, which comes with years of working together, that you can use for continuous improvements.

But there are also some drawbacks you’ll have to address sooner or later:

• Expanding teams or addressing specialized needs can strain budgets and capacity.
• Teams too familiar with the product may overlook defects or become resistant to innovation.
• Hiring, training, and maintaining quality teams and tools require significant investment.
• Internal teams may lack exposure to industry-wide best practices or emerging trends.

Overall, while you have full control over what’s going on, you run the risk of resource insufficiency and curbing improvement opportunities.

External Quality Handling

The second approach hinges on hiring an external team and letting them do the work. So, you partner with a QA company and define what they do and how. Alternatively, you can let them handle all the details on their own. But you still have the final say in everything. In this scenario, you can expect the following perks:

• Immediate access to advanced skills, tools, and up-to-date industry knowledge.
• Easy scaling of the team size and scope of their duties.
• Reduced costs of staffing, training, and maintaining people, tools, and infrastructure.
• An objective perspective that can identify overlooked issues or new advancement vectors.
• Increased focus on core development activities as the outsourced crew handles quality tasks.

These attention-grabbing advantages come with potential issues, too, however:

• External teams may need time to understand the product fully, which could slow initial testing phases.
• Communication challenges, such as time zone differences, can delay feedback and collaboration.
• You may have limited influence over the daily operations or priorities of external teams.
• Sharing sensitive data with external providers introduces potential confidentiality concerns.
• Over-reliance on external partners can reduce your flexibility and internal expertise over time.

There’s one twist you should be aware of. Most of the flaws that come from working with external providers actually come from working with subpar external providers. For example, QA Madness has been covering versatile projects for well over a decade. And we’ve learned every concern a client might have. So, experienced organizations can pretty much eliminate each downside we described.

For instance, we:

• Ensure our teams focus on one project at a time. So, all their attention is dedicated to you.
• Use thorough onboarding processes, product workshops, and documentation reviews to align with your product’s needs.
• Offer flexible working hours and use efficient communication tools to ensure timely feedback.
• Establish transparent workflows, regular progress updates, and collaborative planning sessions to align with your priorities.
• Rely on robust NDAs, data encryption, and strict compliance with security standards.
• Offer hybrid models and knowledge-sharing programs, enabling your internal teams to build expertise.

Overall, if you want to work with external specialists, conduct a detailed research. Look at the reviews, recommendations, available services, etc. And don’t hesitate to arrange a call with a QA company you’re considering. You can find out a lot by just having a conversation. And you can always just say “no.”

To Sum Up

In our humble opinion, quality shouldn’t be separated into different practices. QC, QA, and QM are all equal parts of it. Not means to achieve it. If you only use quality assurance, you miss out on everything quality control and management have to offer and vice versa. That’s why we’re so happy to see QE finally making this sentiment real. It reminds us that quality isn’t about what is built into it. It’s about building quality into what you do.

So, here are some final words of advice. Make quality the core of your project. And let it blossom into an unforgettable product through your team’s skills. Because, frankly, it’s people who are always behind something incredible.