Guide 08 · Glossary
QA Glossary
Short explanations of the essential QA terms, abbreviations and jargon used in daily testing work.
Initial notes
Start with these short notes and examples. This guide will be expanded over time.
QA Glossary
Short explanations of common testing and delivery terms used throughout the handbook.
26 terms
- Acceptance criteria
- Conditions a feature must meet to be accepted by the relevant stakeholders.
- Backlog
- An ordered list of work. The Product Backlog covers product needs; the Sprint Backlog contains the Sprint Goal, selected work and delivery plan.
- CI/CD
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery or Deployment: practices for integrating changes frequently and preparing or releasing them through automated pipelines.
- Defect / Bug
- A flaw in a work product, such as code or a requirement, that can cause incorrect behaviour.
- Definition of Done
- The shared quality criteria an Increment must meet to be considered complete.
- E2E (End-to-End) testing
- Testing a complete workflow across the components involved in a user journey.
- Expected result / Actual result
- The expected result describes what should happen; the actual result records what happened when the test ran.
- Integration testing
- Testing interactions and interfaces between components or systems.
- Precondition
- A state or condition that must be in place before a test starts.
- QA (Quality Assurance)
- Activities that improve processes to help prevent quality problems. Testing contributes evidence about product quality.
- Regression testing
- Testing after a change to check for unintended effects on existing behaviour.
- Requirement
- A capability or condition that the product needs to satisfy.
- Retesting / Confirmation testing
- Running checks to confirm that a reported defect has been fixed.
- SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)
- The lifecycle of software, from planning and requirements through development, release and maintenance.
- Severity / Priority
- Severity describes the impact of a defect; priority describes how urgently it should be addressed.
- Smoke testing
- A small set of checks on critical functionality to see whether a build is suitable for further testing.
- Sprint
- A fixed-length Scrum event, lasting one month or less, in which the team works towards a Sprint Goal.
- STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle)
- A way to describe testing activities, from requirement analysis and planning to execution and closure.
- Test Case
- A specific check with preconditions, inputs, actions and expected results.
- Test data
- The input values and records needed to run a test.
- Test Plan
- The document describing the scope, approach, resources, schedule and responsibilities for testing.
- Test pyramid
- A guideline for balancing many small, fast tests with fewer broader integration and end-to-end tests.
- Test Scenario
- A high-level description of a feature or user journey to test. One scenario can lead to several test cases.
- Test Strategy
- The high-level approach and principles that guide testing decisions.
- UAT (User Acceptance Testing)
- Testing by intended users or their representatives to assess whether the system meets their business needs.
- Unit testing
- Testing a small component, such as a function or class, in isolation.