Who Really Owns Quality in Software Delivery? Key Findings from the T-Plan QA Strategy Poll 

New poll results reveal a shift in quality ownership across software teams. Discover what this means for your QA strategy, test automation tools, and how your organisation can plan for better software quality and faster delivery. 

The QA Ownership Poll: Understanding Quality in Modern Software Teams 

As software delivery models evolve, organisations are re-examining a key question: who really owns software quality? 

With the rise of agile development, shorter sprints, and continuous delivery, traditional boundaries around quality assurance (QA) are being blurred. To better understand where the industry stands, we ran a LinkedIn poll asking: 

Who owns quality in your organisation today? 

The testing community voted in one of the most popular polls to date and the results are in.

Results

TeamPercentage of Votes 
Shared across teams 58% 
Dedicated QA/test team 35% 
Developers 4% 
Business Analysts 4% 

Key Stats & Insights: 

  • Shared Quality Ownership leads with 58%, reflecting a broader trend towards collaborative, cross-functional quality.
  • 35% of organisations still rely on dedicated QA functions, indicating their ongoing importance in safeguarding reliability and compliance.
  • Developers and business analysts each only received 4%, showing that quality is rarely viewed as the sole responsibility of one technical role.

Why Understanding QA Ownership Improves Software Delivery Speed 

Clear, shared ownership of quality helps teams release software faster and with fewer issues. 

When testing responsibilities are siloed or unclear, teams are more likely to: 

  • Delay testing until too late in the release cycle 
  • Encounter unexpected bugs and costly rework 
  • Prioritise speed over stability 

By embedding test automation and shared accountability from the outset, teams can: 

  • Detect defects earlier 
  • Achieve faster feedback loops 
  • Deliver features more confidently and efficiently 

Quality ownership is not just a process question, it’s a key factor in your delivery performance. 

Strategic Insight: Why These Poll Results Matter for Business Planning 

As organisations plan for growth and adapt to digital change, understanding how teams define ownership of quality is crucial. 

Embedding quality into overall strategy helps you: 

  • Build realistic project timelines 
  • Allocate roles and responsibilities clearly 
  • Invest in appropriate test automation tools 
  • Align software delivery with customer expectations 
  • Improve cross-team collaboration 

Departments that still rely solely on traditional QA functions may encounter inefficiencies or slow their digital delivery efforts. In contrast, shifting to cross-team ownership of quality supports innovation, agility, and alignment with modern delivery models. 

What This Shift Means for the Testing Community and Business Stakeholders 

The testing profession is changing. This shift in results shows that testers are now seen as: 

  • Quality leaders who influence delivery from start to finish 
  • Automation experts who enable better coverage and reliability 
  • Collaborators who work across development, product, and operations 

For testers, it means expanding your skills in: 

  • Test automation frameworks 
  • CI/CD pipeline integration 
  • Quality coaching and feedback facilitation 

For businesses, it validates the need to: 

  • Treat quality as a company-wide mindset, not just a team function 
  • Incentivise quality-driven behaviour at all stages of the SDLC 
  • Invest in tools and training that support cross-functional testing 

Planning to scale? Make sure quality governance is included in your digital transformation roadmap. 

Why T-Plan is the Ideal Test Automation Platform for Forward-Thinking Teams 

If your business is shifting towards shared quality ownership, you need tools that support that goal. T-Plan.com offers a robust, flexible, and intuitive test automation solution that empowers teams to automate intelligently and collaborate effectively. 

Key Benefits of Using T-Plan

  • Intuitive Interface: Low-code/no-code designer. Enables both testers and business users to design automated test cases with ease. 
  • Repeatable Test Execution: Record once, replay many times. Ideal for regression, smoke and system testing. 
  • Cross-platform from day one: Test on WindowsmacOSLinuxiOSAndroid with a single script. 
  • Image-Based Testing: Uses OCR and image recognition for UI validations. Exactly how your users experience the product. 
  • CI/CD Ready: Seamless integration with Jenkins, Bamboo, Azure DevOps and other pipeline tools. 
  • Quick Deployment: Set up tests rapidly without major infrastructure changes or delays. 
  • Secure and Scalable: Encrypted batch execution, network deployment and compliance-friendly architecture. 
  • Secure and Scalable: Encrypted batch execution, network deployment and compliance-friendly architecture.

T-Plan is built for teams who value efficiency, traceability, and enterprise-grade test coverage. 

Looking Ahead: Redefining QA Strategy for Your Organisation 

Our poll shows the industry is heading towards a quality-first, team-owned model. The implications are clear: 

  • Testers play a broader role in coaching, strategy and automation. 
  • Businesses must plan with shared quality ownership in mind. 
  • Intelligent test automation platforms like T-Plan are essential to scale effectively. 

Tell Us What You’re Seeing 

We want your input. Are QA responsibilities shifting in your organisation? Are you seeing clearer ownership, or more confusion? 

Read the last blog Is QA Shrinking? Who Owns Quality Now, And Does Anyone Still Care?

Let’s build a clearer, more accountable future for quality, together. 

Contact Us

Who Owns Quality in Your Organisation?

Recent Posts

UI test automation validating clinical trial software dashboard

Clinical Trial Management Automation: How UI Testing and RPA Accelerate Pharma, Healthcare and Biotech

In pharma and biotech, speed to market and airtight compliance can mean the difference between delivering a life-saving treatment on time or facing months, sometimes years, of costly delays. Yet, even with advanced clinical trial management systems in place, data issues, integration failures, and workflow disruptions can derail timelines, inflate costs, and impact patient safety. Only 20% of clinical

Read More »
User logging in to their laptop. Padlock logo.

Delivering Reliable, Accessible Patient Portals with UI Test Automation

The Challenge Rolling out a hospital patient portal that works seamlessly across devices and platforms is not just a technical milestone, it is a critical service improvement. Patients need to be able to check test results, book appointments, and request repeat prescriptions quickly and securely. The complexity lies in ensuring the portal is accessible to

Read More »
Typing on technology ipad testing

Accelerating Pharmaceutical Submissions with RPA

The Challenge Preparing multi-country pharmaceutical submissions is a resource-intensive process. Even with experienced teams, the task of gathering data, formatting for different markets and regulatory regions, and ensuring consistency across hundreds of documents remains slow and labour-heavy.  Manual handling increases the risk of inconsistencies and errors, which can lead to re-work, missed deadlines, and delayed

Read More »

Book your FREE demo

You’re just one step away from saving time & money – get in touch today.

  • No code access required
  • Visual UI testing tool
  • iOS and Mac compatible
  • All platforms supported
  • Mimics real time user experience
  • Record and playback function
  • Award winning support