QA participation in architecture review (ARB) brings testing perspective early.
Topics QA contributes:
1. Testability of design.
- Modularity — testable units.
- Dependencies — mockable.
- Interfaces — verifiable contracts.
QA flags untestable architectures.
2. NFR testability.
- Performance targets defined?
- Security testing planned?
- Accessibility?
3. Test data implications.
- Schema enables test data factories?
- Production-realistic data needed?
4. Integration testing approach.
- Each integration testable in isolation?
- End-to-end testable?
5. Deployment testing.
- Migration testable?
- Rollback testable?
6. Performance / scalability.
- Load testing scenarios.
- Capacity planning.
7. Regression impact.
- New feature affects which existing?
- Regression scope.
8. UAT plan.
- How will business validate?
Process:
- Attend ARB.
- Review design docs.
- Submit testability concerns in writing.
- Recommend changes if architecture is hard to test.
Common pitfalls:
- QA absent from architecture decisions — testability ignored.
- Architecture too complex for testing capacity.
- No NFR planning — gaps surface late.
Senior QA insight: untestable architecture is bad architecture. QA voice in architecture matters.
The senior framing: architects design; QA validates testability. Both contribute.