What is Quality Engineering?

In this talk, Stuart Thomas explores the concept of quality engineering and its role in modern software development. 

He argues that Quality Engineering is more than just a new term, it's an evolution of traditional testing and QA into a proactive, integrated approach to software quality.

Key points covered:

• Quality as a continuous process: Quality Engineering moves beyond testing at the end of development and embeds quality practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Industry evolution & best practices: Quality Engineering builds on models like Dan Ashby’s Continuous Testing and Janet Gregory & Lisa Crispin’s Holistic Testing. It ensures quality is a shared responsibility across teams, from developers to business leaders.
• Shift left & shift right approaches: Quality Engineers focus on early testing (shift left) to catch issues before they escalate and use monitoring & observability (shift right) to maintain quality in production.
• Developer experience & efficiency: A core focus is improving developer workflows, reducing bottlenecks and enabling faster feedback loops, leading to better productivity and higher-quality software.
• Culture & long-term benefits: Quality Engineering requires a mindset shift but ultimately enables teams to deliver high-quality software that meets customer needs more quickly and safely.

Stuart concludes that quality engineering isn’t just about testing, it’s about making software development smoother, more efficient and more effective for everyone involved.