The adage goes, “prevention is better than cure.” That’s essentially the role quality assurance (QA) plays in the software development process. It’s imperative for ensuring that problem areas are addressed and resolved in the early stages of software development to avoid complications later.

Unfortunately, many businesses still have misconceptions regarding what it entails. We’ve compiled, and debunked, some myths about quality assurance:

“Quality assurance and testing are the same”

The two terms are not interchangeable; quality assurance is multi-faceted, and testing is a component of it. QA not only involves testing the finished product in a range of ways, but also involves doing so during the entire development process—from the design stages to final maintenance.

“Testing is simple”

Testing, a component of quality assurance, is often misconceived to be a simple process. The process is extremely challenging and requires a great degree of skill and expertise to carry out.

“You can get rid of bugs completely”

There’s a misconception that performing quality assurance and testing can completely rid your system of the bugs that plague it. This isn’t entirely true, since bugs will continue to exist; quality assurance merely works to minimize them.

It’d be way too easy to be disappointed by quality assurance if it meant manufacturing a perfect system or software; instead, QA will bring bugs down to an acceptable level.

“Manual testing is obsolete”

With automation taking over every aspect of life, it may seem intuitive to do away with manual testing of an automated device. Manual testing may take more time than automated testing, but it can’t be removed completely. Automated tests tend to use the same set of inputs each time, but randomized manual inputs may prove the system is not as flawless as it seemed.

“Quality assurance isn’t worth the expense”

Granted, investing in quality assurance in the early stages can spare you the costs of fixing the bugs, and other unexpected problems, that will crop up after development is complete.

“Leave it to the end”

It may make sense to leave quality assurance to the end, when the project has been completed. In some cases, owed to delays and unforeseen circumstances, you may not have enough time at the end to carry out the thorough quality assurance you wanted.

Thus, quality assurance and testing should be carried out during the process, so bugs aren’t allowed to continue in the system until much later. It’s advised to carry out QA and fix bugs in the early stages of development.

EX² Outcoding ensures that quality assurance covers the entire life cycle of your software; our processes include functional testing, regressions, bottleneck, and usability. Our software development company in Costa Rica provides a range of services, including expertise in quality assurance, to ensure you receive stress-free, cost-effective, and high-quality IT services.

Contact us now and find out which of our services suit your needs best!