Quality assurance
Also called: QA
Activities that improve the process of building software so fewer defects get made in the first place.
Definition
Quality assurance (QA) is process-oriented: it focuses on how the team works so that quality is built in from the start. It includes things like defining standards, reviewing requirements, agreeing on a definition of done and improving workflows. In everyday job titles, "QA" is often used loosely to mean testing.
In practice
A team decides that every user story must have acceptance criteria before development starts, so developers and testers share the same understanding of "done".
Learn it in context
Lessons that use this term.