How do you ensure quality assurance from planning to deployment?

1 Define QA goals and criteria

The first step to ensure QA is to define the goals and criteria for the project, based on the client's needs, specifications, and standards. This will help you establish the scope, quality level, and acceptance criteria for the deliverables, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the QA team. You should also document the QA plan, which outlines the methods, tools, metrics, and schedule for the QA activities. The QA plan should be aligned with the project plan and approved by the client and the stakeholders.

2 Implement QA processes and tools

The next step for ensuring the quality of the deliverables throughout the project lifecycle is to implement QA processes and tools. This may involve code reviews, which can be done manually or with automated tools like CodeClimate and SonarQube. Testing is also necessary to verify and validate the functionality, security, and usability of the software or system, using unit testing, integration testing, system testing, user acceptance testing, and regression testing. Continuous integration and delivery with tools like Jenkins and GitLab enables faster feedback, error detection, and quality improvement. Additionally, collecting and analyzing data on the quality aspects of the deliverables with tools such as TestRail or KPI Dashboard can generate quality metrics and reports.

3 Communicate and collaborate with stakeholders

The third step is to communicate and collaborate with the stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. This will help you ensure that the deliverables meet expectations and identify any issues or risks that may affect the quality. To do this, you can hold regular meetings with stakeholders at different stages of the project, such as kickoff, review, testing, and deployment. You can also create documents that capture the details, specifications, and results of QA activities. Additionally, you can solicit and provide feedback and reviews on the deliverables, incorporating changes and improvements based on the feedback. All of these activities can be done using tools such as Zoom, Slack, Confluence, Google Docs, Jira, and Trello.

4 Deploy and monitor the deliverables

The final step is to deploy and monitor the deliverables, after ensuring that they have passed the QA criteria and have been approved by the client and the stakeholders. This includes transferring the deliverables from the development environment to the production environment using deployment tools and methods, as well as tracking and measuring their performance, availability, reliability, and security with monitoring tools. Deployment can be done manually or with automated tools such as Docker or AWS, while monitoring can be done with tools like New Relic or Datadog. By following these steps, you can ensure quality assurance from planning to deployment, and deliver software or systems that meet the client's needs and expectations.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?