Intro
Rivalry sure is hard next to top-notch competitors who know how to give optimal results and a unique experience to their service or product users. But, wait…what if we told you that the key to delivering an exceptional experience is something that you could have in your hands and is the cornerstone software systems rely on?
In fact, quality control gives you that and more as it considers meticulous details of the deployed software to ensure it’s free of bugs and errors during run-time. A bug-free software system is what any business should go after to enhance the overall experience for users, increase satisfaction rates, and ensure wise utilization of resources without any going to waste thanks to unrecognized bugs in the system.
A reliable software system ensures a reliable reputation for the company and helps foster higher levels of trust and loyalty between clients next to service providers in the same niche. Understanding bugs, how they happen, how to be prevented, and how quality control can save the day is what we’re about to share with you now!
What is A Software Bug?
A software bug is a term used to describe errors or mistakes that may happen while developing systems for any reason. They’re not necessarily caused by one reason alone. Some scenarios could have bugs happening due to multiple reasons combined or simply due to a human error.
Considering the fact that software system components complement one another means that a flaw in one component may affect the workflow of another component within the system as they’re ultimately interconnected and part of one cohesive system.
Software bugs happen for many reasons that include but are not limited to the following:
- Human errors such as typos, misunderstanding requirements, or logical mistakes.
- Large systems can increase the possibility of more code errors due to their complexity.
- Repeated changes mean constant changes to the code thereby increasing error rates.
- Different work environments and incomplete or inaccurate testing.
- Hardware issues that impact software systems which are sensitive to the type of hardware implemented.
- Multi-Threads issues that may affect the programs’ processes.
How Did The Name “Bug” Originate?
If you think a software bug is related in any sort of way to bugs or insects, then what you think is actually right. This dates back to an interesting story that happened in 1947 when a team of computer scientists working on an early electromechanical computer suddenly faced an issue with the computer as it was no longer functioning properly.
Later, they figured out that a moth had sneaked its way inside the machine’s hardware, causing it to malfunction. The moth was ultimately removed and the incident was written in the team’s logbook as “First bug found.” Thus, the term “bug” became a term used to describe errors or issues that happen in a system.
Are Bugs Entirely Bad?
Quality Assurance (QA) is implemented to prevent errors or bugs from happening by monitoring the quality of the processes during the development phase and before production. The QA professionals are in charge of checking that the units of the system are in sequence and in sync with one another. It’s process-oriented as it happens at the system process management level.
Quality Control (QC) is used to monitor the quality of the software system. It recognizes the defects in the system and aims to fix them while the software is in the developed (production) phase to ensure any bugs found during run-time are managed with the best practices. It relies on testing tools to identify issues whereas QA relies on system audits to manage operations.
How Do Quality Assurance & Quality Control Differ?
Quality Assurance (QA) is implemented to prevent errors or bugs from happening by monitoring the quality of the processes during the development phase and before production. The QA professionals are in charge of checking that the units of the system are in sequence and in sync with one another. It’s process-oriented as it happens at the system process management level.
Quality Control (QC) is used to monitor the quality of the software system. It recognizes the defects in the system and aims to fix them while the software is in the developed (production) phase to ensure any bugs found during run-time are managed with the best practices. It relies on testing tools to identify issues whereas QA relies on system audits to manage operations.
Turning Bugs Into Features: How is That Possible?
Bugs aren’t necessarily a bad thing as they could introduce new features and here is how. Users’ feedback may highlight an unrecognized need for an additional feature that isn’t available, hence, serving both sides’ benefits as it solves the issue and offers something additional in return. Doing this isn’t possible by nature unless quality control tests are implemented.
A great example of a bug-turned-feature is Gmail’s Undo Send Feature
The feature started as an unintended bug where emails were delayed after users clicked the send button of the email. This delay gave users the chance to edit emails which became a preferable advantage. Therefore, with the realization that users love this, Gmail decided to turn this into a feature and enhance it by increasing the delay time for users and making it customizable.
Wrap-Up
Businesses can significantly enhance product quality, reduce costs, and foster customer loyalty by monitoring processes through quality control measures. Investing in a proper quality control plan helps in identifying and rectifying bugs before they escalate.
This in turn prevents costly mistakes and ensures the system or product exceeds expectations. At InvoiceQ, we believe that it’s an investment for our customers to grant them better satisfaction rates and long-term business success. This is why we have our QA and QC experts in charge of managing our system and products during and after development.
Get complete control of your invoices with InvoiceQ’s comprehensive quality control procedures. Get started with your E-invoicing journey today!
