How important is QA for your startup?

Mak Mo
8 replies
As a startup founder, How do you do QA for your product?

Replies

Stefan Smiljkovic
Both manually and automatically. Before we had automated tests on https://automatio.co, I did all of them manually. And every time we released something new, it was a lot of work to go through and check if something was broken. Now we have around ~300 automated tests, but still, manual work is needed for some things to be sure nothing is broken. Especially on a complex project like Automatio.
Mak Mo
@stefan_smiljkovic would be ok to answer some questions about automation then we can share them here with the community?
Mak Mo
@stefan_smiljkovic How do you do regression test?
Stefan Smiljkovic
@youssif_maxzoom I would like, but I am not sure if I am competent for that. I am not developer myself, just a visionary.
Pablo Fatas
At SigmaOS, since we are a browser, we are all constantly using the product and doing QA. QA is much easy when you’re your own biggest user! We also have a slack where users can give us feedback/report bugs and we rely on that a lot.
Mak Mo
@pablo_fatas Everyone should be QA this is not a job for few people. When you push new code, how do you verify it didn't break something else?
Pablo Fatas
@youssif_maxzoom i mean you don’t have a lot of people at a startup. When you’re a team of 4 you cannot have many people doing QA. Devs do QA while building obviously and make sure nothing is majorly wrong. But we push patches all the time and if anything big comes up, fix it in the hour. If something really went wrong you can always revert to a previous version.
Claus
Hey Yusuf Ali, First off, I totally get where you're coming from! Quality Assurance (QA) is like the unsung hero of startups. It might not seem as flashy as marketing or product development, but trust me, it's the backbone of a successful venture. In my experience, QA is non-negotiable. It's not just about finding bugs; it's about ensuring your product lives up to the expectations of your users. Happy users mean more growth, and that's the name of the game. Here's what worked for me: 1. Automate Where You Can: Use testing tools and frameworks to automate repetitive tests. This saves time and catches issues early. 2. User Testing: Get real users involved. Their feedback is gold. You'll be amazed at what you can learn from them. 3. Continuous Integration: Make sure your QA process is integrated into your development pipeline. This helps catch issues as soon as they're introduced. 4. Bug Tracking: Use a reliable bug tracking system to keep things organized. It makes collaboration easier. 5. Documentation: Always document your test cases and results. This ensures consistency, especially if you have multiple people working on QA. Remember, QA isn't a one-time thing. It's an ongoing process that evolves with your startup. So, embrace it, and it'll pay off big time.