Almost all software and web-based companies (SaaS, e-commerce, and more) that care about a bug-free user experience will eventually need a systematic and repeatable process to test their products. And for most software teams, the only way to feasibly accomplish testing fast enough that it doesn’t become a bottleneck in the software development lifecycle is to incorporate automation tools.

Many software companies have no formal quality assurance strategy, and those that do take one of two inherently flawed approaches: Either they (a) ask developers to do QA or (b) delegate QA to a siloed team, whether it’s internal or outsourced. Having been in the QA space for a decade, we’ve learned that both approaches are deeply flawed.