QA engineers are involved in each phase of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to improve quality and identify issues early. The six phases are planning, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance. In planning, QA engineers can identify potential bugs in new features. In design, they can find problems with the design that could cause bugs. During implementation, QA highlights potential user experience issues. Testing involves writing test cases and bug reports. For deployment, QA conducts smoke testing after release. Maintenance is an ongoing process where QA works to prevent bugs from being released.

1. SDLCfrom a
QA Engineer’s
perspective
Presenter: Nabeel Asghar

2. Why involve QA Engineer in each phase
- QA engineers have a clear overview of the entire SDLC process
- They can point out inefficiencies and gaps in the beginning
- A good QA engineer not only improves the quality of the product
but also the process used to develop it

3. SDLC phases
Generally, SDLC is split between these 6 phases
1. Planning
2. Design
3. Implementation
4. Testing
5. Deployment
6. Maintenance

4. Planning
QA Engineers can weigh in on new features. They can point out
potential issues with user experience that may even affect the team’s
decision to either
a. Enhance its usability
b. Eliminate possibilities for potential bugs
c. Split the feature to reduce complexity
d. Drop it entirely, incase it could jeopardize the product

5. Design
In design phase, QA Engineers can identify aspects of the design that
might cause problems (while they’re still in-progress).
This enables the designer to make changes on the fly.
‘But’ if QA doesn’t see design-related problems until the official
testing phase,
‘Either’ adjustments have to be made after further confirmation &
discussions ‘OR’ design have to be redone

6. Implementation
QA could highlight the potential impacts on user experience like
a. What to do in-terms of handling scenarios where certain
processing time is necessary to show results
b. Adjust content in layout according to viewport restrictions
c. What should be expected behavior if current functionality is
affecting its siblings

7. Testing
Beyond the ‘obvious’. QA has to do multiple tasks and sometimes
manage them in parallel. Some of them are
a. Writing test case
b. Automate them
c. Writing bug reports
d. Provide technical support
e. Keeping track of all updates

8. Deployment
Based on deployment strategy, QA Engineers need to be on standby.
As soon as the release goes live, QA again jumps into gear to conduct
smoke testing. To make sure the deploy didn’t cause any issues.

9. Maintenance
It's an ongoing ‘Rinse and repeat’ cycle
Sometimes bugs do get released because prevention can not be
guaranteed 100%
QA Engineer is supposed to do maintenance throughout the cycle to
keep the product in best shape

10. Reference
Special thanks to Wes Silverstein for his article:
https://www.mindfulqa.com/qa-sdlc/

11. Questions ?