Beyond Bugs: What if We Talked About Confidence in QA?

Shifting the conversation from bugs to outcomes and informed confidence.

A few weeks ago, I asked a simple question on LinkedIn: 'If you could change just one thing about how your team talks about QA, what would it be?' My immediate answer? Shifting from 'bugs' to 'confidence.' This sparked a lively debate, with fascinating agreements, disagreements, and new perspectives.

This question was off the back of my recent post, It's about quality, not testing. In it, I argued that if QA's only talk about the testing they perform and the bugs they uncover, they risk being undervalued. This narrow view often sidelines QA, pushing testing to the end of the development process. My core suggestion was to shift the narrative from 'testing' to 'quality.' This doesn't mean we stop testing or reporting bugs, but rather, it means reframing how we talk about these activities, emphasising their contribution to the overall quality that our stakeholders care about. Which ultimately helps them decide if the product is truly ready to ship.

The LinkedIn comments added some great nu…