Quality Engineering vs Quality Assurance: Concepts Explained and Differences Compared

What is Quality Engineering? Definition and Examples

Quality engineering is a relatively new approach. It is the practice of conducting quality inspections of a product at different stages of its production. This typically means that every member of the development team tests the product during the course of the project. For example, software engineers may test their code before sending the software to the next development stage.

Quality engineering allows employees to address issues as they are discovered, not just focus on the quality of the product. It also emphasizes analyzing the processes involved in product development to minimize waste. By minimizing the costs caused by defects, waste is reduced.

It emphasizes resolving issues in a timely manner instead of waiting to fix all problems immediately after the project is completed. It also enhances productivity by encouraging all team members to work thoughtfully, as they are directly responsible for the success of the project during its development stages.

What is Quality Assurance?

Quality assurance is a more familiar and common term. It primarily verifies the integrity, consistency, and effectiveness of the implementation processes involved in software product development. To achieve process reusability and continuous improvement, organizations often standardize processes by defining subprocesses, milestones, input and output for each process stage, and the work to be completed at each point in time. As software products evolve and mature throughout their lifecycle, fixing defects introduced early on becomes increasingly time-consuming and costly. The fundamental assumption of quality assurance (QA) is that process quality determines software product quality. When the process is executed correctly, ensuring good adherence to each stage of the process and detecting and fixing defects introduced in each stage, it maximizes the ability to contain defects within their respective stages.

Quality Engineering vs Quality Assurance: What are Their Differences?

In order to better analyze and explain the differences between these two concepts, we have created a table to help understand them:

QA and QE are often intertwined and complement each other. Organizations may employ both QA and QE practices to achieve the best outcomes. QA sets the foundation by establishing processes and standards, while QE adds a proactive element by actively testing and improving quality throughout the development lifecycle.

WeTest, the preeminent testing service provider, can provide you with higher-quality testing solutions at a more affordable price. WeTest LQA, for example, provides a comprehensive and accurate localization process that allows you to get better quality assurance and your products.