Quality Assurance vs Software Testing

This question I have received a number of times during my career, and seen documented on resource requirements more times than i would like to remember. If i was to summarise, I would say QA provides the planning, structure, transparent reporting and quality levels while testing runs the actual tests either manually or via automation.

A simple analogy is to consider an end product as a loaf of bread.

Quality Assurance identifies what the end result loaf of bread should be, the industry standards which identify how a loaf of bread is made, the recipes, hygiene standards, oven temperature, safety measures and staff training needed to consistently create a loaf of bread.

Testing is the process of tasting the bread to check if it tastes good.

Software Testing vs Quality Assurance

A very short, explanation for teams

1. What is Software Testing?

Software Testing is about checking the product. It focuses on finding defects and verifying that the software works as expected.

Key points

  • Tests the actual product
  • Detects bugs, errors, and failures
  • Ensures features behave correctly
  • Usually happens after development
  • Examples: Static, Unit, Performance, Functional, Security, User Acceptance, Operational Acceptance, Disaster Recovery testing,

In short: Testing asks: “Does the software work correctly?”

2. What is Quality Assurance (QA)?

Quality Assurance is about the process. It focuses on preventing defects by making sure the team follows good practices, agrees the quality levels upfront including entry and exit criteria, identifies how to transparently report the results and defines the test governance for environments and tooling.

Key points

  • Improves the development process and defines/agrees the quality assurance level
  • Prevents defects before they happen, prevents false negative defects.
  • Involves planning, standards, transparency, reporting, governance and continuous improvement
  • Happens throughout the development lifecycle
  • Examples: test process, documentation standards, environment governance, test governance, resource requirements, entry and exit criteria,

In short: QA asks: “Are we building the software in the best possible way and does it meet the requirements?”