What is the Difference Between Quality Control and Quality Assurance?

Quality control (QC) is a reactive approach that involves inspecting and testing the final product to identify and fix defects. In contrast, quality assurance (QA) is a proactive approach that focuses on improving and managing the processes used to create the product, ensuring quality is maintained throughout development.

Simply put, QC finds and corrects issues after they occur, while QA works to prevent issues from happening in the first place.

Key Differences:

• Focus:

QC targets the final product, ensuring it meets quality standards through inspections and tests. QA focuses on the processes behind production, ensuring they are efficient and effective in delivering consistent quality.

• Approach:

QC is reactive, addressing defects after they are detected. QA is proactive, aiming to eliminate potential defects by optimizing processes.

• Team Involvement:

QC is often handled by a specialized team responsible for testing and inspection. QA involves the entire organization, with a focus on implementing and maintaining quality standards across all stages of development.

Examples:

• QC:  A tester running automated test scripts to check for bugs in a newly developed feature of a mobile app.
• QA: Implementing a robust code review process and continuous integration (CI) pipeline to catch errors early and ensure consistent quality during software development.

For a deeper understanding of QA, explore this detailed guide on quality assurance.