QUALITY ASSURANCE - QUALITY CONTROL 101 - Short Article by Nik Zafri

I've noticed that many people still confuse Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Let me reclarify this with an example using "defects." I've created a table for QA/QC 101 to illustrate the differences.

KEY DIFFERENCES

Proactive vs. Reactive - QA is proactive, focusing on preventing defects by improving processes, while QC is reactive, focusing on identifying and fixing defects in the product/during project operation

Scope - QA is broad, encompassing all activities related to the implementation of processes, while QC is narrow, concentrating on specific outputs (products or deliverables).

Responsibility - QA is a responsibility of everyone involved in the development process, whereas QC is usually the responsibility of a specific team.

Both QA and QC are essential for ensuring high-quality products/projects and processes, but they serve different purposes and are implemented at different stages in the development lifecycle/project operation.