Differences between testing and QA in practice - what do people think?

[oracleslave]

Hey, if you get paid well enough, wouldn't you?

absofrigginglutely

[MPwannadecentincome]

wikipedia: 'Software Testing is a task intended to detect defects in software by contrasting a computer program's expected results with its actual results for a given set of inputs. By contrast, QA (Quality Assurance) is the implementation of policies and procedures intended to prevent defects from occurring in the first place.'

Any thoughts on this, how does QA work generally?

It depends on the organisation, I started my career in the defence industry 24 years ago - the company had a QA dept (2 people) who did exactly that.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Reading your Wikipedia quote: Testing would ensure that whatever the developers produce, works. QA would ensure that what they produce satisfies the original requirements.

Testing: Provided it is documented as to what 'works' means!

[HeadOfTesting]

'Testing would ensure that whatever the developers produce, works.
QA would ensure that what they produce satisfies the original requirements'

But surely that's the same as verification testing and validation testing?

Thanks for the replies by the way.

Yes the verification/validation parallel can start to break down under scrutiny. For example, causal analysis of defects would be considered a QA activity but is not centered about whether the correct thing was built. This example also highlights that the view expressed above that testing comes before QA is rather short-sighted. QA should be interwoven in to the process from day 1.

Here are my conclusions based on what I've osberved over the years:

- The testing community can't agree on the distinction so why should anyone else.
- It's not worth agonising over the distinction (see point above)
- Most organisations use the terms interchangeably
- No attempt should be made to draw a distinction within those organisations who use the terms interchangeably (that's not the same as saying that both sets of activities should not be addressed).
- If you're a test manager you should not bother applying to a properly titled QA manager role (CMMI, Six Sigma, ISO etc)
- If you want to catch out a candidate in an interview asking them to articulate the distinction is a good one - almost as good as asking candidates to distinguish between validation and verification (only about 1% of candidates for testing roles know that in my experience even if they have VV&T engineer positions on their CV).

[grey_lady]

Thanks HeadofTesting.