The intersection of product management and quality assurance: insights for QAs

Quality Assurance experts often find themselves deeply involved in testing and bugs finding but there is a bigger picture that worth exploring: how does QA fit into the broader product management process? Seeing the intersection between product management and QA can empower QA teams to focus on what really matters - delivering value to end users and positively impacting the business. In this article we’ll explore on a high level how product discovery, Value Proposition Canvas (VPC), MVP/MSP/MLP, and unit economics tie into a QA’s day-to-day role.

A Product Manager is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing a product. The keyword for a Product Manager is “conversion of paying users.”

Before launching a product the Product Discovery phase answers the question “What product should we build?”. This phase is also used throughout the product’s lifecycle to answer the question “How do we improve it?”

During this stage, the team explores several key aspects:

• Market and niche analysis. to determine whether the market is growing or shrinking, helping decide if staying in the current domain is worthwhile.
• Target audience analysis. defining your user’s persona or ICP (Ideal Customer Profile).
• Competitor analysis. for non-unique products, this can be invaluable for QA, for instance, analyzing competitors’ functionality or examining user complaints.
• Qualitative research. customer interviews often result in a Value Proposition Canvas (VPC).

What is VPC and how does it help QA?

Value Proposition Canvas is a tool used to develop and refine a product’s value proposition. It helps companies clearly articulate the value and benefits they offer to their customers while addressing specific problems and meeting audience needs.

VPC consists of:

• Customer Jobs: Describes tasks, needs, or problems of the target audience.
• Pains: The challenges, issues, and obstacles faced by the audience.
• Gains: Things that make the customer happy or what they desire.

By identifying Pains, Gains, and Jobs, the QA team understands the rationale behind certain product decisions.

For example, studying VPC helps QA understand why certain functionality exists and create test scenarios reflecting real user needs.

MVP, MSP, and MLP in development

VPC generates ideas that develop into products (what the company offers to solve tasks and meet customer needs). These ideas undergo fundamental checks (such as reality, economy, and feasibility checks).

Next, the team develops an MVP and a go-to-market plan, alongside MSP and MLP.

• MVP (Minimum Viable Product): A strategy focusing on creating the minimal functionality necessary to test the product and gather user feedback. The main idea is to launch quickly with minimal costs.
• MSP (Minimum Sellable Product): Goes beyond basic functionality to include features that make the product attractive to potential buyers. The main idea is to capture the attention of paying customers. This helps QA refine their approach.
• MLP (Minimum Lovable Product): Focuses on creating features that users will love.

If you plan to automate, be prepared for frequent changes of MVP which is a risk and an argument against automating too early. Knowing your MSP can help laser-focus your efforts on important features for the business.

QA’s role in measuring MVP success

Hypotheses are created for MVP. A hypothesis is an assumption or statement that can be tested or disproved through research. For example, “If we add a voice input feature to a task planning app, the number of users completing daily tasks will increase by 20% within the first month of launch.”

QA can help formulate hypotheses based on testing data. For example:

- What features are the riskiest to implement?

- What scenarios might impact conversion rates within the funnel?

To evaluate the success of a new product launch, the Product Team tracks various metrics, such as:

• Sales growth.
• Increased user activity.
• Reduced time to resolve a problem.

Metrics without goals are meaningless. You need to understand where you should go. What is the goal? Growth? A four times larger customer base?

You might already have plenty of ideas about why this could be useful. For instance, understanding why this functionality exists, what is expected from it, and how critical it is for the Product Team and the business.

Practical Example

Imagine your company launches an MVP for a task-planning app. The hypothesis is that adding a simple collaborative feature (allowing multiple users to comment on tasks) will boost user retention by 15%. As a QA:

1. You analyze the feature’s risks: Could concurrency issues arise if two users edit the same task?

2. You create test scenarios: Checking: if comments are saved properly, if notifications are triggered.

3. You measure success metrics: With the Product Team you track user retention for a month. If you see a 12% uptick (close to 15%), you’ve validated the hypothesis. If it’s significantly lower you investigate or refine the feature.

By aligning with the business hypothesis QA ensures testing is targeted and impactful.

Unit Economics and funnels: how QA can impact Product efficiency

Unit Economics calculates the cost and efficiency of a product. It’s a crucial phase that also helps QA better understand the product. For example, if there’s a calculation of how much it costs to retain a user and how much revenue they generate, a funnel (Funnel Model) is often used.

A funnel is a model showing the sequence of stages users go through, from the starting point, such as visiting a website, to reaching a specific goal, like making a purchase. At each stage, you receive a certain conversion rate. Conversion is the percentage of users who complete a desired action or move to the next funnel stage.

Knowing this QA can focus on different funnel stages to avoid losing conversion rates.

Conclusion: discovery for QA

Understanding the Discovery process can be intriguing for QA. It can help determine: what to test manually, what to automate and assist in adjusting your strategy and relationship with the Product Team.

QA can also help evaluate risks associated with defects. For example:

• Which bugs can impact the company’s revenue?
• Which are critical to the business and require immediate fixes?

MVP implementation takes place, and understanding its origins ensures clarity about what truly matters.

In short: a QA who thinks like a product manager can make the difference between a product that just “works” and one that really meets user and business needs and goals.

Have you ever incorporated Product Management techniques - like Value Proposition Canvas or funnel analysis - into your QA process? Share your experiences or any tips you have in the comments.