What Is Quality Engineering? A Complete Guide Imagine your team is under immense pressure to launch a software product quickly. The product’s interface looks polished, the features seem groundbreaking, and the launch date is met. Testlio January 25th, 2025 However, within hours of going live, users begin to report glitches, confusing navigation, and crashes. Despite the team’s dedication and hard work, the rush to deliver meant quality became an afterthought, resulting in a tarnished reputation and costly fixes post-release. This scenario highlights the critical gap that Quality Engineering (QE) is designed to fill. Unlike traditional Quality Assurance (QA), which often focuses on testing at the end of development, QE is a proactive, end-to-end approach to embedding quality into every stage of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). It’s not just about finding and fixing bugs; it’s about preventing them in the first place by building quality into the DNA of the product. QE includes a comprehensive set of methodologies and tools that address quality from multiple angles: Design Stage: Ensures usability, accessibility, and user-centric design are prioritized early on, setting the foundation for a seamless experience. Development Phase: Promotes clean coding practices, continuous testing, and integration to catch issues as they arise, rather than after they accumulate. Pre-Production: Uses automation, performance testing, and stress testing to guarantee that the product is ready for real-world conditions. Post-Launch Monitoring: Continues to track and optimize performance, ensuring quality remains consistent even after deployment. At Testlio, we view QE not as a set of tools or processes but as a mindset—a proactive, strategic discipline that aligns teams, promotes innovation, and ensures quality at scale. In this guide, we’ll take you through the evolution of QE, its key pillars, actionable insights for creating a QE strategy, budgeting, and examples of how QE works across various sectors. So, if you’re ready to rethink your approach to software quality and explore new QE strategies, let’s dive in. TL;DR Quality Engineering is a disciplined, proactive approach to ensuring software quality by integrating best practices, tools, and processes throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). By embedding quality early, QE reduces defects, speeds up delivery, and enhances user satisfaction. Whole team ownership, automation, collaboration, and a relentless focus on quality are the core principles that drive QE success. Organizations typically allocate 10% to 20% of their engineering budgets to quality efforts, ensuring a strategic investment in long-term product success. What is Quality Engineering? Quality Engineering (QE) is a proactive, strategic approach to delivering high-quality software by embedding quality into every phase of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). You can think of it as the backbone of modern software development. It’s an integral part of everything we do, from conception to deployment, to ensure quality. A QE approach focuses on best practices and principles to help organizations build better software faster while reducing risks and enhancing user satisfaction. In the past, Quality Engineering (QE) may have been viewed primarily as test automation, focusing on running automated scripts on already-developed software. While test automation is a valuable tool, QE has since evolved into a more comprehensive approach. For example, imagine a development team that releases a mobile app. In the “old way,” quality assurance might involve testing the app after development, finding bugs, and cycling through rounds of fixes. In contrast, QE identifies potential issues right from the planning stage. For instance, QE might use data from previous app launches to predict performance bottlenecks or usability issues, ensuring those are addressed before coding even begins. Therefore, QE has grown far beyond its roots in automation. It now integrates quality assurance and software testing, ensuring that both processes work together seamlessly to improve software quality. Modern QE breaks down silos between development, testing, and operations teams, creating a unified effort to prioritize quality. By doing so, it addresses challenges proactively, like: Shift-Left Testing: This practice moves testing earlier in the SDLC. For example, QE integrates testing into the design phase instead of waiting for the code to be completed. Collaboration as a Foundation: QE encourages developers, testers, and product managers to work together. CI/CD as a Quality Pipeline: Continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines allow QE to implement quality checks at every stage. Quality Engineering’s strength lies in its ability to combine the process-driven rigor of QA with the validation-focused depth of software testing. By combining these two disciplines under QE, organizations move from reactive quality fixes to proactive quality design. Core Concepts & Principles in QE Quality Engineering is grounded in principles prioritizing collaboration, efficiency, and excellence. Let’s dive into four key concepts that drive a successful QE strategy. Whole Team Ownership Quality isn’t a job for just one team. Everyone involved in the software development lifecycle, from developers to product managers, ensures the product meets high standards. For example, consider a developer proactively writing clean, testable code while a product manager clarifies unclear requirements before development begins. This collaborative ownership ensures potential issues are addressed early, fostering a culture of shared accountability. As a result, potential issues are addressed early, resulting in less delay and promoting a culture of quality. Bringing a Focus to Quality Quality has always been a top priority in QE. It’s not something you scramble to check just before release; it’s built into every phase of the process. This mindset requires deliberate effort, and teams must align on quality objectives early and keep them visible throughout the lifecycle. For instance, a team might use a dashboard to track test coverage, defect density, and performance benchmarks. By continuously monitoring these metrics, they ensure every decision aligns with delivering a high-quality product. It’s like having a compass to guide you through development, keeping your entire team on course. Benefit of Close Proximity Great things happen when teams work closely together. Whether the team is in the same room or using virtual collaboration tools, close proximity leads to better communication and faster decision-making. Consider a tester sitting alongside developers and product owners in a sprint planning meeting. When a potential issue with testability arises, it’s flagged and addressed on the spot, saving time and avoiding rework later. This close collaboration builds trust, aligns goals, and ensures that quality considerations are part of every conversation. Automation is Critical Automation is not a luxury but a necessity. It allows teams to efficiently handle repetitive tasks like testing, deployment, and monitoring, leaving room for creativity and innovation. Think about a team preparing to launch a new mobile app feature. Automated tests validate its functionality across devices and operating systems in minutes, providing rapid feedback to developers. Without automation, this process would take hours or even days of manual effort. Automation also ensures consistency, scalability, and faster time-to-market, making it an indispensable tool in any QE strategy. Developing an Effective Quality Engineering Strategy Creating a practical QE strategy involves more than refining QA and software testing practices. It’s about building a holistic, forward-thinking framework that ensures high-quality software and drives competitive advantage. Let’s explore the essential elements and steps to develop a robust QE strategy. Key Elements A successful Quality Engineering (QE) strategy is a comprehensive framework built on 15 core elements. These elements are grouped into three main layers: software testing, quality assurance, and quality engineering. Software Testing Strategy Elements The foundation of QE begins with a robust software testing strategy. These elements ensure that testing is structured, effective, and aligned with development goals. Key elements include: Cadence: Define the frequency of testing, whether continuous, periodic, or aligned with specific release cycles. Gates: Establish checkpoints for testing, such as pre-release, post-development, or deployment stages. Coverage: Ensure testing includes all key variables like hardware, locations, languages, payment methods, and user scenarios. Ownership: Assign clear accountability for testing tasks and outcomes within the team. Techniques and Tools: Incorporate testing methods like smoke, exploratory, regression, localization, and performance testing, supported by appropriate tools. Quality Assurance Strategy Elements Expanding on software testing, quality assurance (QA) introduces processes and oversight to ensure quality across the board. Key elements include: Purpose and Objectives: Craft a mission statement and establish clear goals for quality assurance initiatives. Metrics and Monitoring: Track essential QA metrics, such as defect rates, resolution times, and customer satisfaction scores. Processes: Implement structured workflows that guide QA activities from start to finish. Improvements: Regularly review and enhance processes based on findings and evolving needs. Governance: Establish standards, policies, and protocols to maintain consistency and accountability in QA efforts. Quality Engineering Strategy Elements The top level of the QE framework involves advanced and holistic elements that integrate engineering, business, and strategic considerations. Key elements include: Purpose: Define why quality engineering is essential to your business. For example, “We pursue quality engineering to deliver exceptional, joyful user experiences.” Differentiation: Identify unique advantages that set your QE strategy apart, such as speed (fast releases), cost efficiency, or product tolerance to defects. Systems: Use advanced tools and processes like CI/CD pipelines, feature flags, and AI-driven testing to enable efficient, scalable quality practices. Economics: Allocate 10-20% of the engineering budget to quality engineering and ensure financial strategies align with organizational goals. Resources: Adopt flexible resourcing models combining in-house teams, outsourced expertise, crowdsourced testing, and AI-powered tools for optimal efficiency. With these elements in place, organizations can ensure their QE strategy evolves with industry standards, remains competitive, and consistently exceeds user expectations. How to Build a QE Strategy Building a QE strategy involves aligning your organization’s goals, capabilities, and resources to create a plan that drives quality across the software lifecycle. Here’s a step-by-step guide: Establish Clear Ownership and Collaboration Ensure the responsibility for developing and executing the QE strategy is assigned to the most senior software development leader in your organization. This individual will work closely with DevOps, engineering management, quality teams, product management, and finance to create a unified approach. Cross-functional collaboration ensures quality goals align with organizational objectives, enabling seamless integration of QE principles into every aspect of the development lifecycle. Define Scope and Purpose Develop a comprehensive QE strategy document that includes all critical aspects of testing, quality assurance, and quality engineering. The document should be as detailed as necessary, even extending to 30+ pages, to capture the full complexity of your processes. Additionally, differentiate your strategy by emphasizing unique strengths like faster time-to-market, cost-efficiency, or superior user experience. Highlight what sets your approach apart from competitors to strengthen your organization’s positioning. Integrate Core QE Elements Incorporate the 15 essential elements of QE into your strategy, covering testing, quality assurance, and engineering: Testing: Define cadence, gates, coverage, ownership, tools, and testing techniques (e.g., exploratory, regression, and localization). Quality Assurance: Establish objectives, metrics, processes, governance, and continuous improvement initiatives. Quality Engineering: Address purpose, differentiation, systems, financial economics, and resource allocation to ensure a holistic approach. Leverage External Expertise Engage consultants, managed services providers, or external partners to add depth to your strategy. They can benchmark your processes, refine documentation, and provide insights into best practices. External expertise also helps challenge internal biases and brings fresh perspectives to address complex challenges, including leveraging AI-driven processes or accessing specialized talent. Develop and Monitor Metrics Track and analyze metrics across all phases of development to measure the impact of your QE strategy effectively: Testing Metrics: Include test coverage, defect detection rates, and issue validity. Quality Assurance Metrics: Focus on escaped issues, resolution times, and customer satisfaction scores. Engineering Indicators: Monitor bug trends, engineering productivity, and employee well-being (e.g., time-to-hire or flow state reports). Ensure these indicators reflect both short-term performance and long-term ROI. Revisit and Evolve the Strategy Periodically Conduct annual reviews to align your QE strategy with organizational goals and market dynamics. Reassess the strategy every 2-3 years to account for advancements in AI, tools, methodologies, and industry best practices. Use these reviews to identify gaps, implement necessary changes, and ensure the strategy remains relevant and effective in driving quality outcomes. What are Some of The Key Challenges Inherent in Quality Engineering? Quality Engineering is a game-changer but comes with some challenges. A shift to a QE-centric approach can be a huge deal for any organization, but the journey to get there isn’t always easy. Let’s talk about what makes QE tricky today and, more importantly, how to tackle these challenges. 1. Resistance to Mindset Shifts One of the most challenging parts of adopting QE is getting everyone on board with a new way of thinking. QE involves more than testing and automation, as it requires a culture of quality that everyone shares. And that can feel disruptive for teams used to working in their own silos or following traditional workflows. Changing the mindset that “quality is someone else’s job” can be challenging. Teams might resist taking ownership of quality or feel overwhelmed by the shift to integrating it at the very beginning of the process. Here’s how you can tackle it: Lead with Clarity: Leaders need to set the tone. Share the “why” behind QE and how it benefits the whole team and the company. Educate and Align: Host workshops and training sessions to help teams understand what QE is and how it fits into their roles. Celebrate Small Wins: Highlight early successes to show that the new approach works and boosts team morale. 2. Breaking Down Silos and Communication Gaps QE thrives on collaboration, but in many organizations, teams still work in silos. Developers focus on coding, testers focus on finding bugs, and business stakeholders stay in their lane. QE demands shared accountability and constant communication, which can be a big shift. For many teams, collaboration may feel unfamiliar, leading to missed details, duplicate efforts, or inefficiencies. Here’s how you can tackle it: Form Cross-Functional Teams: Build teams that include developers, testers, DevOps, and business stakeholders. Collaboration improves when everyone’s in the same room (or virtual space). Use Shared Tools and Metrics: Create dashboards that track quality metrics everyone cares about. This keeps the whole team aligned. Hold Regular Syncs: Frequent stand-ups or retrospectives ensure everyone stays on the same page. 3. Skill Set and Training Gaps Let’s face it: QE is a lot more than just automated testing. It includes performance engineering, security testing, observability, and continuous improvement. Not every team member comes with the skills to handle all these areas, which can create gaps in execution. It takes time, resources, and commitment to expand team capabilities. Here’s how you can tackle it: Upskill Your Team: Invest in training programs that teach modern QE practices like performance and security testing. Bring in Experts: Partner with a company like Testlio to bridge gaps while your team builds their skills. Simplify with Tools: Use user-friendly platforms that make complex QE tasks more manageable for everyone to execute. 4. Integrating QE into Existing Processes If your organization uses older platforms or hasn’t yet adopted CI/CD pipelines, integrating modern QE practices can feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Legacy systems and outdated workflows don’t always align with shift-left practices or continuous testing. Here’s how you can tackle it: Bridge the Gap: Use middleware tools to integrate legacy systems with modern QE practices. Modernize Gradually: Work towards mature CI/CD pipelines over time, prioritizing areas that will benefit most from QE. 5. Balancing Speed with Thoroughness In the age of Agile and DevOps, speed is everything. But sometimes, the rush to deliver software quickly can lead to skipped quality checks, especially in performance or security testing areas. The pressure to deliver fast can make teams feel there’s no time for comprehensive quality checks. Here’s how you can tackle it: Automate the Essentials: Automate critical tests like smoke tests, security scans, and performance benchmarks to ensure they’re never skipped. Use Risk-Based Testing: Focus on the most critical and high-risk areas. Not everything needs the same level of scrutiny. Build Quality Gates: Integrate mandatory quality gates into your CI/CD pipelines so releases can’t move forward without passing key checks. How Much Should You Be Spending on Your QE Efforts? Investing in Quality Engineering (QE) isn’t just a budget line item but a strategic decision that directly impacts the quality of your software and your business outcomes. But how much should you spend? The answer depends on industry benchmarks, specific organizational needs, and your software’s unique challenges. According to Steve Semelsberger, CEO of Testlio, companies should allocate 10% – 20% of their engineering personnel costs to quality resources. This range provides a helpful starting point, but your organization’s exact percentage will depend on factors like your software’s complexity, user expectations, and industry standards. If your engineering team’s total costs are $2 million annually, investing 15% (or $300,000) into QE ensures that quality becomes a built-in part of your process, not an afterthought. Factors Influencing QE Costs The right QE investment isn’t a one-size-fits-all calculation. Steve suggests that several factors can influence how much you should allocate. These factors are as follows: 1. Software Technology Age Older systems often come with a host of technical debt, such as outdated code, legacy systems, and integrations that need extra care. Testing and maintaining these systems require more time and resources, which drives up QE costs. If your product relies on such technology, consider allocating more to QE. 2. Issue Risk Tolerance How much risk can your organization afford? You will probably need to invest heavily in QE if your users expect near-flawless experiences from critical apps like healthcare or fintech. On the other hand, products with a higher tolerance for minor defects require less rigorous QE efforts. 3. Regulatory Requirements Some industries, like healthcare and finance, operate under strict regulatory frameworks. These compliance requirements demand thorough testing and documentation, increasing QE costs. A financial app, for instance, must ensure secure transactions and data privacy to meet legal standards. 4. Product Complexity The more complex your software, the more comprehensive your testing needs to be. If you have a SaaS product with dozens of integrations, you’ll need to invest far more in quality assurance than if you only had a simple mobile app. Calculating Your QE Budget Determining your QE budget requires a structured approach. Here’s how you can do it: Step 1: Assess Engineering Personnel Costs Start by calculating the total costs associated with your engineering team. This includes salaries, benefits, tools, and other related expenses. Step 2: Apply the QE Percentage Decide on the percentage of these costs you’d like to allocate to QE. Let’s say you choose 15%. If your engineering personnel costs total $2 million annually: QE Budget = $2,000,000 × 0.15 = $300,000 Step 3: Adjust for Specific Factors A budget should reflect factors such as the age of technology, risk tolerance, regulatory requirements, and product complexity. If your app supports millions of transactions daily, you may need to increase your budget to ensure top-notch performance and reliability. Understanding the Cost of Quality (CoQ) Cost of Quality (CoQ) is a deeper layer of QE budgeting that captures all expenses related to quality maintenance. CoQ is divided into four categories: Prevention Costs: Investments in training, process improvements, and design reviews aimed at preventing defects from occurring in the first place. Think of these as “spend now, save later” costs. Appraisal Costs: Expenses related to evaluating and inspecting your software to catch issues early. Automated testing frameworks and quality audits often fall into this category. Internal Failure Costs: These are the costs associated with fixing issues caught before the software reaches customers. While less damaging than external failures, they consume resources and delay timelines. External Failure Costs: When defects make it to users, the costs skyrocket. You can think of it as customer support, refunds, damage to your reputation, or even legal action. Investing in QE upfront can drastically reduce these expensive and painful scenarios. Core Metrics: Measuring QE Effectiveness You must track the right metrics to understand how well your Quality Engineering (QE) processes work. These metrics are the pulse of your software development efforts—they help you identify what’s working, what’s not, and where you can improve. Let’s dive into some essential QE metrics and what they mean for your organization. Defect Density Defect Density measures the number of defects found in your code relative to its size (usually calculated per thousand lines of code or KLOC). This metric gives you a sense of your code’s quality. For example, finding many bugs in a critical feature could be a sign that the code needs refactoring or that testing wasn’t thorough enough. On the flip side, a low defect density shows that your team is writing cleaner, more reliable code. Test Coverage Test Coverage looks at how much of your codebase is being tested. It’s often expressed as a percentage, covering dimensions like functions, branches, and statements. Imagine you’ve built an e-commerce app, but your tests only cover the checkout page and ignore the search functionality. If something goes wrong with your search, you’re in trouble. High test coverage ensures you’re catching potential issues across the entire app. But remember, it’s not just about quantity—test quality matters too. A 90% coverage rate is great, but only if your tests are meaningful. Mean Time to Detect and Resolve Issues (MTTR) MTTR tells you how quickly your team identifies and fixes issues after they appear. The faster you do this, the less disruption your users will experience. Think about it: if a bug in your mobile app’s payment system causes errors, every second counts. A low MTTR means your team can act quickly, restoring functionality and minimizing customer frustration. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction gauges how well the software meets user expectations, often measured through surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), or customer feedback. High satisfaction levels indicate that the QE processes effectively deliver value to users, while lower scores may highlight areas needing improvement. For instance, a gaming app might get rave reviews for smooth gameplay and minimal crashes, reflecting the success of its QE efforts. On the other hand, repeated complaints about glitches in a streaming platform might signal areas where quality needs a closer look. Cost of Quality (CoQ) CoQ is about understanding the total cost of ensuring your software meets quality standards. This includes everything from prevention (training and process improvements) to fixing issues (both before and after release). Let’s say your company spends heavily on automated testing tools. While this might seem expensive initially, it could save you money in the long run by reducing post-release failures and customer complaints. Release Stability Release Stability measures the reliability of software releases, indicated by the number of incidents or rollbacks post-deployment. Imagine a retail app that consistently crashes after updates. Users will lose trust quickly. High-release stability, on the other hand, builds customer confidence and loyalty. Regression Test Pass Rate This metric tracks how many regression tests pass after code changes are made. It’s crucial to ensure that new updates don’t break existing features. Picture this: your development team rolls out a flashy new feature, but it causes the login page to stop working. A high regression test pass rate ensures your updates build on what’s already working, not undo it. Applying QE to Different Industries Quality Engineering adapts uniquely across various industries, tailoring its practices to meet specific sector demands. Let’s explore how QE is applied in healthcare, fintech, education, and government sectors. Healthcare In healthcare, QE ensures that software systems like electronic health records (EHRs) and diagnostic tools are reliable, secure, and user-friendly. Given the critical nature of patient data and care, QE focuses on: Data Integrity: Ensuring accurate and consistent patient information across platforms. Compliance: Adhering to healthcare regulations and standards to maintain patient safety and confidentiality. Interoperability: Facilitating seamless communication between diverse healthcare systems. Fintech In the fintech industry, where financial transactions and data security are paramount, QE plays a vital role in: Security Testing: Protecting against vulnerabilities to prevent fraud and data breaches. Performance Optimization: Ensuring applications handle high transaction volumes efficiently. Regulatory Compliance: Meeting financial regulations to avoid legal penalties. Education In the education sector, QE ensures that digital learning platforms are accessible, engaging, and effective. Key focus areas include: User Experience: Creating intuitive interfaces for students and educators. Scalability: Supporting a growing number of users without compromising performance. Content Accuracy: Maintaining the correctness of educational materials. Government Government agencies rely on QE to develop robust public service applications, focusing on: Security: Protecting sensitive citizen data from cyber threats. Reliability: Ensuring continuous availability of critical services. Accessibility: Complying with standards to make services accessible to all citizens, including those with disabilities. Partnering Up with Testlio for Your Quality Engineering Needs As we wrap up, let’s take a moment to revisit some of the key points we’ve explored in this article. Quality Engineering is a transformative approach that goes beyond traditional QA and software testing, embedding quality into every phase of the software development lifecycle. It’s about being proactive, collaborative, and strategic to deliver software that not only functions flawlessly but also exceeds user expectations. Throughout this article, we’ve seen how QE: Shifts the focus from reactive testing to proactive quality integration. Embraces automation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Adapts to industry-specific needs, from healthcare to fintech and beyond. Relies on meaningful metrics to drive effectiveness and optimize processes. By investing in a well-rounded QE strategy, businesses can enhance software reliability, reduce risks, and save valuable time and resources. But implementing these practices effectively is no small feat—that’s where Testlio comes in. At Testlio, we don’t just provide testing services; we become your strategic partner in Quality Engineering. Here’s how we can support your QE efforts: Holistic Quality Approach: We look at quality from every angle, from functional testing to user experience and performance. Our approach ensures that quality is built into your software, not added as an afterthought. Proactive Problem-Solving: With our managed QE services, we help catch user issues early, reducing the time and effort spent fixing defects post-release. This proactive stance saves costs and accelerates time-to-market. Scalable Solutions: Our scalable solutions adapt to your needs. We can integrate seamlessly into your workflows, supporting Agile, DevOps, or traditional development methodologies. Expert Team and Tools: Our network of skilled professionals, paired with advanced tools and processes, ensures comprehensive test coverage and reliable results. We believe that great software is the foundation of great experiences. By partnering with us, you’re guaranteeing that your software aligns with current standards and setting yourself up to surpass future expectations. Ready to take your Quality Engineering efforts to the next level? Reach out to us today, and let’s create software that your users will love. Additional Reading Thank you for taking the time to go through our very extensive article on quality engineering. We’ve done our best to provide you with the best and most up-to-date QE resource you can find online. With that said, we’ve listed additional reading you can engage in to learn more about quality engineering. Keep an eye out on this space, as we’ll update it to include our latest pieces and thoughts related to QE. For now, enjoy the following: Quality Engineering for CEOs: A Series Introduction – by Steve Semelsberger, Testlio CEO Quality Engineering for CEOs: How Much Should You Spend? – by Steve Semelsberger, Testlio CEO Quality Engineering for CEOs: Exploring QE Strategy – by Steve Semelsberger, Testlio CEO