Better quality products is fixing one pain point at a time

Create Memory
Why do we assume complex problems have simple, universal solutions?

Sure — sometimes simple is enough. But when we’re dealing with a variety of challenges across different teams, projects, and contexts, it’s unrealistic to expect one magic fix.

I saw a post recently claiming that the key to solving Quality Engineering issues is to “start testing earlier.” The idea is sound — shift left is a solid practice. 

But is it always the most important thing? 
Not necessarily.

In some teams, the bigger issue is communication between product, development, and QA. Testing earlier won’t help much if the handoffs are broken. Wouldn’t it make more sense to start by aligning on how the teams actually work together?

In others, the problem is prioritization — bugs that were known before release get rediscovered by users, creating unnecessary fire drills. The issue isn’t when they test, it’s how they handle what they already know.

And some teams are simply releasing too fast, cutting corners on quality and spending more time cleaning up avoidable messes. Testing early won’t help if there’s no time or process to act on the results.

Bottom line: shift left is great, but it’s not a universal cure.

Start by identifying your team’s biggest pain point. Solve that. Then move on to the next.

We all want silver bullets, but complex systems rarely work that way. Not everything is a nail — and a good toolbox needs more than just hammers.

Look at yourself… Taking your vitamins is healthy. 
But don’t expect them to fix everything if you’re still sitting all day testing code without getting up to move once in a while.
In this memory: Joel Montvelisky

I like what Joel says here.

We can talk about 'best' or 'good' practice. Or good ideas on how to do things.

Yes it's probably better to test early, to shift-left, to build-quality in from day one.

But sometimes we just have to do better and care for the products we are building.

I often refer to this as "doing the work". It's usually not glamorous. Nor does it usually have a fancy name. Though it does help keep the organisational flywheel spinning, and businesses need that.

We can talk about culture, models or philosophies of how we work, but really, quality comes from doing the work. From understanding the complexity of what we are working on, spotting problems and working hard to fix them.

I personally see this under the "quality is care" banner. We do what we can, within the capacity of what we have, to do the best we can. We aim to ship quality because we care and want to do the best for the organisations we serve.

And "doing the work" is the best kind of proof to show that we care.

Link to Joel's LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joelm3_why-do-we-assume-complex-problems-have-simple-activity-7356259670790914048-pI-j

CEO & Founder at Ministry of Testing
She/Her
I've been working in the software testing and quality engineering space since the year 2000 whilst also combining it with my love for education and community building.
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