The drastic contrast of opinions on quality engineering (QE) is fascinating. Some think it’s a revolutionary approach to software development. Others consider it a fancy term for an amalgamation of quality-related roles. Accenture describes it as the adaptation to the current demands and expectations for digital products. So what is a QE?
The thing is, software development isn’t universal. Each company tailors its experts and processes to set business goals. Even the same position can mean different duties in various firms. The one aspect that will never shift is that quality is the priority for any successful project. The rest is for you to decide, and we hope this article will help you do it.
Quality engineering involves designing and using smart processes and tools to prevent problems and defects. By building quality into the creation process, it aims to deliver top-notch products or services that meet and exceed customer expectations.
Without overcomplicating the term, QE develops, operates, manages, and maintains quality practices.
At its core, QE is quite similar to quality management (QM). In IT, the terms are often blurry. So the best way to explain the difference between QE and QM is that:
In other words, QM includes:
So, it works by establishing the foundation and grids for quality procedures within a company. In contrast, QE centers on the structures on top of that foundation, i.e., quality realization via appropriate technologies, tools, and metrics.
So, QM defines quality, and QE implements the necessary techniques to achieve it. The two become a duo that levels out and streamlines the inner workings of software development to reach envisioned and elevated results.
QE is proactive in nature. It strives to maintain efficient and effective production processes and ensure the product meets business and customer expectations by:
As you may have noticed from the above, QE is about the “hows” of software development:
Quite a few new practices have appeared in software development. You are well familiar with Agile, DevOps, CI/CD, shift left testing, and the rest of the efficiency bunch. Now, excellent user experience and supreme quality are becoming standards (not achievements).
So what should companies do to distinguish themselves? The “obvious” answer is to redefine quality. As noted in a few of our articles – quality is subjective and can always be improved. And that’s the reason for QE’s sudden boom. It aspires to elevate quality to new levels by fusing it with each SDLC aspect.
QE defines quality goals, strategies, and standards for the software development process. This involves:
QE engages in designing the software development process in a way that incorporates quality checks and measures throughout the entire lifecycle, e.g.:
QE also implements activities and techniques to ensure the software development process follows the defined quality standards. In practice, this means conducting:
QE utilizes automated testing (AT) tools and frameworks to perform various types of tests, such as unit, integration, and regression testing. By tailoring the AT strategy, quality engineers can:
QE will also implement CI/CD pipelines to automate the integration, testing, and delivery of code changes. Smart CI/CD realization will lead to:
QE is also responsible for identifying the root causes of defects and taking proactive steps to prevent them from occurring in the future. This may involve:
QE seeks to optimize the software for performance and scalability. These are achieved via:
QE can integrate security measures throughout the development process to identify and mitigate potential security vulnerabilities in the software, thus advancing:
QE also focuses on the usability and user experience of the software to ensure it meets customer needs and expectations. So it’s involved in:
Probably one of the most important aspects of QE is collecting and analyzing relevant data. Where the goal is to:
Lastly, QE establishes a feedback mechanism to gather user insights and continuously improve the software based on their needs and preferences. So QE serves as the bridge between stakeholders and customers and:
In a way, QE functions from within, trying to cultivate quality (instead of “enforcing” it).
The term “quality engineering” presupposes the existence of a “quality engineer”. While such a role functions in other sectors, software development is special. Because one professional would perish before being able to carry out all listed duties.
Even if you try to find an adequate definition of a quality engineer, you will see explanations related to manufacturing, testing, or quality assurance. While in reality, QE is a process. And it involves numerous agents with distinct areas of expertise.
This is more of an “official” list of the QE actors. But there’s no lesser role when it comes to quality. And we’d like to think that every person involved in a digital project is a part of it.
Let’s conduct a quick experiment – analyze the first 10 definitions of a quality engineer.
While there is no unified definition for a quality engineer, let’s try and make one based on the above. So, a quality engineer is someone who:
Well, this professional seems to be a hybrid between development and QA teams’ roles. For now, you can think of quality engineers (in the IT sector) as an all-in-one specialist or wishful thinking – up to you.
You must be past the “What is QA engineer” stage, so let’s get straight to the difference between the terms and job positions. You may also have come across perspectives that compare quality engineers with QA engineers. A commonly highlighted distinction is that the former is ampler in its functions and deals with supervision/management of quality. While the former is “just testing”.
But let’s be realistic. Now, QA is far from being a simple software-checking mechanism. And QA specialists have become an all-encompassing part of SDLC, not its particular stage. With test-driven development, shift left approach, DevOps, DevQAOps, and Agile, QA experts are well on their way to transforming into elusive quality engineers.
That’s also why we never refer to our QA professionals as “testers” (a more standard term in the sector, perhaps). This concept has turned obsolete and doesn’t come close to defining the duties and impacts of this role on the software development processes and outcomes.
As for quality engineering, QA has its rightful place regarding:
And since QA services have such a powerful influence on a project’s quality, they will definitely not dissolve within QE.
QE looks like a promising quality overhaul. It also appears to blur the lines between distinct software development roles. Instead, it favors the concept of a “hive mind” that puts quality first and actively collaborates to achieve excellence.
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