Quality Assurance And Quality Control: The Role Of QA Manager

Unfortunately, the role of QA Manager is still considered the less achievable QA position compared to that of a QA engineer. In this blog post, let us know what’s quality assurance, quality assurance define and we want to point out that manual quality assurance is not only user-centric but also a technical way of testing even if it does not involve the development of automated testing. The following facts refer to where we use the Gray Box test method.

How A QA Manager Can Perform Technical Tests

• Gray Box Testing — Test Mode

When it comes to testing a new feature or bugfix, we can test the modified code not only with the black box test method – which essentially only takes into account the inputs and outputs – but also with a method called Gray Box Testing. Gray box tests also take into account things that happen when juggling the inputs and outputs. Some people may wonder why it is important to take this into account when the results appear as expected. But be careful, because they could also be coincidences. Even if an output appears correct, the way the output is generated can be wrong and not as it was suspected. The only way to find out is to analyze and monitor system behavior.

Quality Assurance (QA) Manager Job Description Template | Workable

In the following section, I’ll go into more detail about tools that can be used for Gray Box testing, with a focus on debugging issues. We can use the tools for feature testing also.

1. Gray Box Testing — Debug Mode

The main idea of Gray Box testing is to find out why a problem exists, that is, what causes the problem. Several tools support this method of functional testing, such as:

2. Browser Developer Tools Such as Chrome or Firefox

The browser developer tools help you with information about JavaScript errors, cookies, or API request/response data.

3. Internal and External Logging Tools Such as New Relic

Logging tools log all kinds of bugs that we can analyze and also help developers better understand the problem.

4. API Documentation and Testing Tools Such as Swagger

API test tools we use are to test pure API functionality without the front-end part. This allows them to eliminate problems caused by the front end.

5. Your System Databases

Databases are useful for validating data that refers, for example, to actions such as saving, updating, and deleting.

6. Environments

Comparing functionality that causes problems in another environment with the same product version can help determine whether a problem might be related only to the environment.

7. Your Knowledge of Product and System Architecture

A Quality Assurance Manager has a broad knowledge base when it comes to the product and its system architecture. Take this knowledge with you, keep it, and use it whenever it is needed. Unlike the Gray Box testing method, black-box testing refers only to the problems themselves and what each problem is about, but it does not shed light on the cause of the problem. This means that developers need to invest more time and effort in root-cause analysis.

8. Causes Analysis

To provide developers with as much information as possible about a problem, a technical QA manager provides information not only about the environment, time, website, or reproduction steps, but also information about related errors or other relevant information. The browser development tools and the internal/external logs are a great source for this.

Role of QA Manager 

The role of QA manager in the offshore development team:

Caution: Make sure that the specified errors are related to the problem. If in doubt, you can compare them to the production environment or any other environment with the same product version. Also, browser development tools not only display JavaScript errors or whether a request fails. But also track form data that was not sent correctly to the API or data that was returned incorrectly. These practices will most likely help to determine whether a problem is due to the front end or backend of a system. Sometimes, however, it is not so easy to find out what is the cause. In such a case, the developers work closely with the technical QA manager and assist them with the analysis.

1. API Tests

For some features, the backend may be ready before front-end development begins — or that the site component may not even have a corresponding frontend. In this case, it may be useful to test the endpoints of the API without using the frontend. This can be done e.g. with Postman, Swagger, or self-developed tools. The good thing is that it usually goes faster than testing over the front end. In many cases, however, it saves time to simply test the backend and front end together instead of individually.

2. Test Focus

Being a QA manager means knowing what the quality assurance software architecture looks like and how the software components work together. On the one hand, it must be clear which parts of the product directly get affected by the code change and must, therefore, be tested; on the other hand, it is crucial to know what does not need to be tested (there is a difference). Usually, it is very helpful to know how the code worked before to better understand what has changed. In this way, a QA manager can be powerful and not get lost in detail.

How a QA Manager Can Help Us Achieve Better?

• Questioning Ideas

A test script does not question things. A QA manager does that. This is one of the most important values that a QA manager brings. “Does this solution make sense?” “But does it add value to the customer or does it just cost a lot of money?” Of course, product managers will also question these things, but sometimes the requirements change during development. The same applies to the design. From time to time, designers see only the individual components they design. But as a whole on the site— whether desktop or mobile — it may not appear as user-friendly as expected.

• Mediation Among Team Members

A QA manager connects product managers and developers. This includes, above all, clarifying questions from both sides and finding a solution. Everyone in this round should be open to compromise to find a solution within a reasonable period that can be implemented within a reasonable time. If the specifications are not met if the due date is met, it should be possible to release the current version anyway if it works and still represents an improvement for the customer. The missing parts are not lost by creating a follow-up ticket.

• Self-Organization and Team Organization

The organization includes both self-organization and team organization. Self-organization partly overlaps with the principles of practical testing, e.g. knowing what needs to test and what does not need to test. To recognize which tickets we can test together or whether a certain test order of tickets must adhere to. Having an overview of everything that needs to be tested first can help you organize yourself properly. After the test phase, an intelligible test report must be created. A QA manager should also be familiar with the principles of word processing (also known as “organizing” texts).Also, a QA manager may need to organize within the QA team. For example, coordinating with other QA members about tickets and tasks can improve the team’s performance or knowledge building.

• Implementing an Appropriate QA Process

In some organizations, a QA manager needs to start from scratch and implement an appropriate QA process. Since the QA process is usually to focus on the development process, either the development process can adapt to the QA process or vice versa. This depends on the preference. In any case, there should be enough time for a proper test round in the end. The worst thing is having a stressed QA team that can’t test thoroughly because it doesn’t have enough time. This will not help anyone to deliver a reliable and stable product.

After reading this article, we hope that you have now realized the value a QA manager brings to an organization or a business. If you have any further questions, please address them in the comments section below. We would love to resolve them for you.

Also read- Quality Assurance