Testing, Quality Assurance, and Deployment
Testing, Quality Assurance, and Deployment
This domain tests test strategy, defect control, user acceptance, and a controlled path to production.
Core rules
- Define test levels and ownership: unit, integration, system, regression, UAT, and post-deployment smoke. Map tests to requirements through the traceability matrix.
- Set entry and exit criteria per phase; do not start UAT with open critical defects or unstable environments.
- Classify defects by severity (business impact) and priority (fix order). Track lifecycle: open, assigned, fixed, retest, closed.
- Use production-like test data and environment parity; protect sensitive data.
- Plan cutover with a runbook: tasks, owners, timings, dependencies, communication, go/no-go criteria, and rollback triggers.
- Run hypercare with defined exit criteria.
Worked example
During UAT, a payment defect appears only for refunds above a threshold. The lead rates severity high because it blocks a core process, keeps UAT open, and requires a fix plus regression of refunds and adjacent approval flows. Reasoning: severity reflects business impact, not how easy the fix looks.
Traps
- Treating UAT as a demo.
- Skipping regression after a fix.
- Poor test data masking a defect.
- Ambiguous sign-off with no named approver.