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Summary
Agile QA processes are quality assurance methods built into Agile software development, where testing and collaboration happen throughout the project—not just at the end—making it easier to catch issues early and deliver reliable products quickly. In this approach, QA is a shared responsibility, ensuring that everyone is involved in maintaining product quality as part of the workflow.
Start with collaboration: Bring testers, developers, and product owners together from the beginning to review requirements, plan testing, and agree on quality goals.
Use early testing: Share builds and involve QA throughout the sprint so bugs are identified before they pile up, reducing late surprises.
Track and adjust: Monitor test metrics and feedback continuously to improve processes and set realistic timelines for future releases.
Customers were finding more issues than the QA team....
Back in 2015, I was working with Agile teams in the APAC region that were moving quickly.
Really fast. Features shipped quickly, but the cracks in quality were impossible to ignore.
Testers had been sidelined. Developers only did the basics.
And who discovers the majority of bugs? End customers.
The slogan was: “Quality for all.”
The reality: “Quality for none.”
We decided to reset:
Testers returned to the sprint planning to review stories and acceptance criteria early.
Developers took absolute ownership of unit and API tests.
Accountability was made crystal clear: who validates requirements, who explores edge cases, who tracks metrics.
Most importantly, we agreed on what “good quality” actually meant.
Within months, things turned around: fewer escaped bugs, faster feedback loops, and happier customers.
👉 How does your team make sure quality for all doesn’t slip into quality for none?
I’ll be sharing a few lessons from challenges we’ve faced at Cafeto and how we’ve addressed them. On this occasion, I want to talk about our experience adopting PHVA (Plan Do Check Act) in our Agile development process. Because we primarily build for customers, service quality and predictability matter a lot, so optimizing how we work is core to delivering better outcomes.
As we adopted PHVA, our process became lighter, clearer, and more consistent across projects, helping teams move faster while improving quality. For small and mid size projects, this structure has been especially effective because planning stays lightweight while design and QA get dedicated runway. We typically run two week sprints with UX and Architecture one sprint ahead and QA in a parallel hardening sprint.
We also noticed a common anti pattern where planning defaults to coding, leaving design and testing squeezed. We address this by giving each phase its own lane and cadence:
Plan (Design first): Plan is not a coding meeting. We emphasize design and discovery, user flows, states, accessibility, API contracts, and clear acceptance criteria. UX and architecture run one sprint ahead, so delivery starts with clarity. For small and mid projects, we keep slices to about 1 to 2 weeks of effort and limit WIP.
Do (Build and Reviews): Implement the slice incrementally with feature flags as guardrails, conduct code reviews as part of the work, pair on complex pieces, keep PRs small, write test cases, and maintain steady flow.
Check (Validate and Test): Ensure the increment is properly validated with testing suites for functional and non functional checks such as performance, security, and accessibility. QA works a parallel sprint, hardening the increment to be delivered and preparing test assets for what is next.
Act (User Acceptance): Secure customer blessing on the delivered increment through UAT. Capture feedback, update the backlog, and roll learnings into the next Plan phase.
Working this way has meant fewer handoffs, cleaner releases, and faster feedback loops, which adds up to better results for customers. Not perfection, just steady improvements that compound every sprint. On larger programs, we scale the same loop across multiple teams, and the fundamentals do not change.
#Agile#DevOps#QA#UX#ContinuousImprovement#PHVA#PDCA#Cafeto#Product#Delivery#CustomerExperience#Nearshoring
👩💻 Dev finishes on Day 8. Sprint ends on Day 10.
QA silently asks: “So… high-quality delivery in 2 days?” 😅
🎯 Let’s be real:
Testing delays usually don’t come from poor planning — they come from late handovers.
So, how do we fix it?
🔄 Collaborative solutions: ✔️ Involve QA from day one — adopt a shift-left mindset
✔️ Share early builds so QA can prep ahead
✔️ Keep communication tight with daily Dev-QA check-ins
✔️ Mark tasks as “done” only when both Dev and QA sign off
✔️ Treat sprint goals as shared goals, not isolated efforts
🤝 Quality isn’t a phase. It’s a shared responsibility.
Start early. Test smart. Deliver with confidence. 💥
#SoftwareQuality#AgileMindset#TeamQA#SprintSuccess#DevAndQA#TestEarly#ShiftLeftTesting#QualityFirst#BuildBetter#QALife
Agile teams ship fast... but if QA isn’t built in, they’re just shipping bugs faster.
Too many teams still treat QA like a final checkpoint.
A last-minute safety net before launch.
But that’s not how Agile works.
Quality has to be part of the process, not an afterthought. That means:
-> QA working with devs & product from the start.
-> Catching issues early instead of scrambling to fix them later.
-> Focusing on real business risks, not just checking off test cases.
-> Using automation that actually helps, not just creates more maintenance.
The problem?
Most test automation breaks too easily—one UI update, and you’re rewriting scripts.
Nobody’s sure who really owns testing—is it QA? Devs? Everyone?
Speed and quality are always at odds—tight sprints mean testing gets squeezed.
This is why AI-powered automation actually matters.
testRigor built a tool that lets teams write tests in plain English, eliminates flaky locators, and makes test automation stable and actually useful—so teams can move fast without breaking everything.
Because in Agile, the goal isn’t to just “find bugs.”
It’s to ship with confidence.
What’s been your biggest headache with QA in Agile?
#qa#agile#ai#innovation
How to Shift Left with QA
Most teams say they "shift left"—but few actually do it well.
To truly shift QA left, start here:
1️⃣ Involve QA in Requirements Gathering:
- If you’re waiting until dev starts to bring in QA, you’re already late. QA brings a validation mindset that helps catch ambiguity early.
2️⃣ Collaborate in Sprint Planning:
- Empower QA to raise edge cases and testability concerns before stories hit development.
3️⃣ Ask the Right Questions Early:
- How will we test this?
- Are the acceptance criteria measurable?
- Can we automate the validation?
4️⃣ Pair Test with Design:
- Get QA eyes on wireframes, APIs, and architecture reviews. This ensures quality gets baked in.
5️⃣ Write Test Cases Alongside Dev Work:
- Sync QA effort with the development timeline—not as an afterthought.
🔁 Shifting left isn’t just a process change—it’s a culture shift. Treat QA as a strategic partner, not just a final gatekeeper.
#ShiftLeft#QualityEngineering#AgileQA#TestStrategy#QALeadership