Good quality assurance starts with foundation, and you usually start with building a QA team. It may be trivial if you simply move people from another project, but what if it is a completely new effort? Read on to learn how to build a successful QA team.
It is time to think of a QA team as the guardians of your software’s reputation. They make sure your product doesn’t crash, burn, or frustrate users. But what exactly do they do to achieve this?
First, they set the bar for quality. This isn’t saying, “It should work.” It’s about defining what “working perfectly” means—how fast, how secure, and how user-friendly your product should be.
Then comes the planning. Testers don’t just dive into testing randomly. Their secret weapon is a solid strategy that combines manual and automated testing to catch every flaw (or identify the potential ones).
Next, they roll up their sleeves and get to test. From hunting for bugs in functionality to stress-testing performance and security, the QA team leaves no stone unturned.
Important part: when they find something wrong, they don’t just grumble about it. They collaborate with developers, and offer actionable insights. It’s a teamwork thing.
And they don’t stop there. QA pros keep a sharp eye on your software, even after it’s launched. They make sure updates don’t break anything and that quality is consistent.
Finally, they document everything—how to test, what to test, when was it tested, who tested, what happened during testing, what wen green, and what defects were raised. Why? So the team learns and the product improves over time.
A QA team is your product’s safety net, ensuring it not only works but works beautifully for your users.
Skills a successful QA team should have
The bare minimum that the QA team should cover is executing manual tests. These tests include:
Interactive testing
Integration testing
Load testing
Non-functional testing
Regression testing
Sanity testing
Security testing
Single-user performance testing
Smoke testing
Stress testing
Note that this list is missing unit testing. The reason for that is simple: in a healthy situation, unit tests are done by developers before they ship the code to QA. Your testers may need to know their way around unit tests as an insurance, but they won’t be the ones creating and executing them.
Another major requirement is working with different testing approaches. Your project will likely need both white box testing (the QA know the source code) and black box testing (the QA approaches the software just like a user would). There’s also a mixed approach — grey box testing — but doing that is certainly outside of the minimum scope.
Automation testing specialists are expected to do exactly what their title says. This would require the following:
Knowledge of the primary programming language / framework used for test automation
Reasonable grasp of the programming language used by developers for the project
Proficiency with test automation tool(s), such as Selenium
Good understanding of the product and domain to see what needs to be automated
Decent manual testing skills to avoid nudging colleagues for small things
There are also common skills that will be relevant regardless of the QA team structure:
The ability to put yourself into savvy or clueless user’s shoes
Treat this as more of an ideas list rather than a checklist. If someone on your team or a potential candidate fails to contribute with one of these skills, it is not necessarily a deal breaker. A lot of things in QA are learned through experience, so it is just the matter of whether your product, QA management structure, and/or budget can accommodate for some early mistakes.
These skills alone, however, will not be what makes or breaks your team from day 1 and until the end of the project. You will have to look at metrics for QA process measuring the QA output in a scientific way. They will have you answer two key questions:
Are we on track with our QA goals?
Are our QA results (e.g. detected defects ratio) in line with industry standard?
Look at these metrics, apply context, and discuss with other stakeholders to see if your QA is on the right path. Getting the people with the right skills is a great start, but testing still takes some monitoring and adjustment even under perfect conditions. Read on to get tips on how you can mitigate less-than-ideal conditions while you’re assembling a QA team.
For building a successful QA team, you will need more than just people in your team. What you actually need is a solution that will help you tackle the issues effectively while helping you gain the skillset we mentioned above. “How?” – you might ask.
That is where an AI-powered Test Management Solution comes into play. Bringing 20 years of experience in QA, aqua will be a major part of your team if you decide to have it. After all, aqua’s ultimate goal is to take away the pain of testing from you.
Here’s how aqua helps you build a successful QA team:
Automated test case/data generation: aqua’s AI saves time by creating test cases and test data based on requirements, saving 97% of your time.
Centralised test management: aqua provides a single platform for all testing efforts, keeping everyone on the team aligned and having access to the same information.
Real-time collaboration: aqua’s integration with Capture (bug recording solution) will boost collaboration between devs and testers.
Customisable reporting and KPI alerts: With data-driven insights with customisable reports, your team can monitor performance and make informed decisions.
Seamless automation integrations: aqua works with your existing tools and pipelines like Selenium, Jira, and much more, automating repetitive tasks and focusing on more complex challenges.
Ready to mix the power of your team’s manual effort with a robust solution?
Streamline 100% of your testing efforts; give your QA team a boost
Let’s explore the four key roles when building a QA team from scratch.
Team Lead is the main person responsible for Quality Assurance in the company. They mostly do high-level things, such as creating and maintaining test documentation (and not just test strategy). The Team Lead also provides mentoring directly or sets up their Senior colleagues to provide advice. There is next to none hands-on testing work for someone in this position
Test Manager is the person in charge of individual QA projects. As a rule, they are assigned to just one project and assume full responsibility for quality. Test Managers make project-specific test plans or simply make the team observe an existing test strategy.
Manual QA Specialist is a hands-on tester that interacts with the product the most. They analyse requirements, create test cases, group them into test scenarios, run tests to find defects, report defects into a software test tool, and work with developers to resolve them. During downtime, manual specialists can do exploratory testing to improve the test suite
Automated QA Engineers take care of the automated effort. They too contribute to the test suite and work with developers on resolving discovered defects. We’ve covered how and why you may want to adopt test automation in a separate article.
Now that you understand the key roles in a QA team, let’s put theory into practice. As a Test Manager, one of your most critical responsibilities is triaging incoming bugs and making split-second decisions that can make or break your release. Think you have what it takes? Test your decision-making skills in our interactive Bug Triage Simulator below.
Organisational testing team structures
Now that you know the key roles and responsibilities in a QA team, let’s talk about how these teams are structured. Believe it or not, the way a QA team is organised can make all the difference in efficiency. Here are the most common structures and how they work:
Centralised QA Team: All testers work together in one group and handle multiple projects. This keeps quality standards consistent and makes it easy to share ideas and methods. But, if too many projects demand attention at the same time, things can get delayed.
Embedded QA Team: Testers are assigned directly to development teams. This means they’re always part of the action, working side by side with developers. It’s a great way to catch issues early and move faster.
Hybrid QA Team: This setup mixes centralised and embedded styles. Some testers focus on specific teams, while others handle testing that spans across projects. It gives you the best of both worlds, but it takes careful planning to keep things running smoothly.
Outsourced QA Team: Testing is handled by external professionals. It’s affordable and brings in expert testers, but you’ll need clear communication to stay on track and keep control over the process.
Each structure has its strengths and weaknesses, and the best choice depends on your organisation’s size, goals, and workflows.
Building a QA team means making tough decisions under real constraints. Ready to test your knowledge? Try our interactive simulator below and experience the same budget pressures, skill gaps, and trade-offs that QA managers face every day.
🎯 QA Team Assembly Simulator
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How to play: Click on roles from "Available Roles" to add them to your team. Build a balanced team that covers all testing needs while staying within budget. Watch the dashboard metrics update in real-time to achieve 85%+ coverage!
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Steps to Build a QA Team
Let’s look at the key steps of building a QA team for manual and automated testing.
1
Assign the responsible person. This will usually be the Test Manager reporting directly to the Project Manager.
2
Assess your resources. View the timeline and requirements together with the Project Manager and the Product Owner. See whether your company has enough seniority and capacity to tackle the project. Discuss the requirements for new hires or outsourced specialists if you will need any.
3
Prepare project documentation. Depending on the maturity of the company's QA, you are looking at making a test plan based on the larger test strategy or creating the missing test strategy. These are more than rules: the description of procedures and tools will save you time on introducing new people.
4
Pick the right tools for the job. Your QA suite is usually dictated by the test strategy, but you would usually want an automated testing tool for Agile teams to consolidate all the testing effort.
5
Onboard the team. Present the QA documentation and how the testing workload fits into the project’s timeline. Answer the questions of the team. Make adjustments if needed.
Benefits of creating a testing team from scratch
Creating a testing team from scratch offers numerous benefits that can significantly enhance your QA organization structure and overall software quality. Here are the key advantages:
Customised QA Organization Structure: Building a testing team from the ground up allows you to design a QA organization structure tailored to your specific needs. You can define roles, responsibilities, and processes that align perfectly with your project’s objectives and your company’s culture.
Optimized Software Testing Team: By forming a new software testing team, you have the opportunity to recruit members with the right mix of skills and experience. This ensures that the team is well-equipped to handle the unique challenges of your software projects, leading to more effective and efficient testing processes.
Clear Testing Team Structure: Establishing a new team gives you the chance to implement a clear testing team structure. This involves defining the hierarchy, communication channels, and workflow processes, which helps in minimizing misunderstandings and improving collaboration among team members.
Enhanced Quality Assurance Processes: A newly created testing team can adopt the latest best practices and technologies in quality assurance. This includes incorporating modern testing methodologies, automation tools, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices, which collectively improve the speed and reliability of software releases.
Focused Training and Development: With a fresh team, you can invest in targeted training and development programs that align with your project’s specific requirements. This ensures that all team members are up-to-date with the latest testing techniques and tools, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Better Alignment with Project Goals: Creating a testing team from scratch allows you to ensure that the team’s goals and objectives are fully aligned with the broader project and organizational goals. This alignment is crucial for ensuring that testing efforts directly contribute to the success of the project.
Improved Accountability and Ownership: A new testing team can foster a strong sense of accountability and ownership among its members. Since the team is built with a clear vision and purpose, each member is likely to be more committed to delivering high-quality results.
Scalability and Flexibility: Designing a testing team from scratch provides the flexibility to scale the team size and structure as your project grows. You can easily add new roles or adjust the team structure to meet evolving project demands.
In summary, creating a testing team from scratch enables you to build a tailored QA organization structure, optimize your software testing team, and implement a clear testing team structure that collectively enhances the quality and efficiency of your software testing efforts.
I don't have a ton of experience working for QA managers, as most of my career I've been the QA manager, but I try to be the kind of QA manager I'd want to work for. I think good people skills are important. Caring about your team on an individual basis: making sure each person gets what they need in order to do their best work, whether that be through unblocking obstacles, providing training, or helping them work through personal worries. Give them positive feedback as often as you can when they are doing what you expect them to, and provide constructive criticism promptly when you notice an issue.
Here are some of the challenges that you may face when building a software QA team.
Lack of human resources. The existing QA talent pool may not be deep enough to build a new team. The natural answer is hiring new people or outsourcing some of the tasks
Insufficient seniority. The team may not have enough experienced specialists to tackle a complex project. There could be a lack of experience with certain types of testing and/or lack of business understanding. Depending on the timeline, extra training could be a solid alternative to finding new people
Vague requirements. Unclear scope and complexity of user stories will make it difficult to assess the QA workload and pick the right testers. This needs to be settled with the Product Owner before you proceed
General disregard for QA. It can happen that some stakeholders view testing as an obstacle to releasing rather than a necessary effort. What you could do here is show other stakeholders, perhaps even non-tech people, the potential consequences of poorly tested releases. Bring some domain knowledge and graphs with you
Fast-paced release schedule. This is more of a consideration than an obstacle, but you need to account for it while building a team. When software requires frequent feature updates with little time to test, you will need some hard-hitting QA specialists. Senior testers are definitely preferred to Junior ones. Test automation engineers are a must as well.
Conclusion
Building a QA team takes senior personnel and good planning. You need to have QA people identify the needed skills in their future colleagues and organisational support from the management to nail the scope. The better you build your team, the more polished your software will be.
Using good software will help to make your software better, too. The test management solution aqua comes with an upgraded AI Copilot. You can use it to auto-create tests, prioritise them, and get rid of duplicates. This will save your team from the redundant effort, cut down on routine, and give them time for exploratory testing.
Building a successful QA team is more than hiring the right talent—it’s about giving them the right tools to perform their best work. A robust test management solution like aqua cloud will do more than you might need to build this team.
Known for its precision, aqua cloud provides a centralised hub for managing all aspects of your testing efforts. Its AI-powered capabilities help auto-create requirements, test cases, and test data, saving you time and resources. Your team gains more time for exploratory testing while using advanced analytics to make data-driven decisions. Whether it’s real-time insights or streamlined workflows, aqua cloud ensures your QA team operates at maximum efficiency and delivers flawless results. With its AI Copilot, aqua delivers almost one more person to your team, transforming how you work and communicate, so you can focus on innovation and efficiency.
One centralised hub for 100% of your team’s testing efforts
A testing team is a group of individuals responsible for evaluating software products to ensure they meet quality standards and functional requirements. These teams typically include QA managers/leads, testers, quality assurance engineers, and sometimes developers or business analysts.
What is the difference between QA team and testing team?
The QA team establishes and enforces quality standards and processes throughout the software development lifecycle. They focus on preventing defects by implementing quality assurance practices, defining testing strategies, and ensuring adherence to quality control measures. In contrast, the testing team is specifically tasked with executing tests to validate software functionality and identify defects. While both teams work towards delivering high-quality software, their roles differ in scope and focus within the quality assurance process.
How to create a QA team?
To create a QA team:
Identify the QA team goals and objectives
Determine the team’s size and structure based on the goals
Hire skilled QA professionals and/or train new professionals
Establish clear processes, protocols, and standards for testing
Implement testing tools and technologies
Assign responsibilities and establish roles for each team member
Regularly assess and improve the team’s performance and processes
What makes a great QA team?
A great QA team has a combination of the following qualities:
Technical skills and experience in software testing
Effective communication and collaboration with developers, stakeholders, and other team members
Ability to adapt and evolve with new technologies and testing methodologies
Attention to detail and ability to identify and report software defects
Ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks efficiently
How many QA should be in a team?
The number of QA specialists in a team varies depending on the size and complexity of the project. Typically, the ratio of QA to developers is 1:3 to 1:7. It’s important to have the right amount of QA resources to ensure adequate testing coverage and quality.
Should QA be a separate team?
Yes, having a separate QA team can provide several benefits:
Independent Assessment: Ensures unbiased testing and quality assurance.
Specialized Skills: Leverages specialized testing skills and knowledge.
Improved Focus: Allows developers to focus on coding while QA focuses on testing.
Enhanced Accountability: Clear responsibility for product quality and issue detection.
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