If verification is quality control, what is a validation?

Question

I know that verification is QC (focused on products) but what about validation? I would say its QC too, as it does aim on the product workings, yet no source mentiones that. I am trying to understand, in QA/QC, where these activities belong to.

Answer 1

If we agree in principle that

• validation is regarded as "building the right software," and
• verification is "building the software right," and
• QC is quality control helps identify defects in the product via testing, and
• QA is quality assurance intended to help prevent defects in the product through process management

then, one position is that both validation and verification are aspects of quality control, although someone could also argue that validating we are building the right product is an aspect of quality assurance because we are driving 'quality' upstream.

In my view modern software testing requires being involved in both validation and verification and the role also entails aspects of QC and QA.

While it may be important to understand these differences conceptually I question the value in slicing and dicing these roles and/or tasks in practice unless the company revolves around a rigid set of rules carried out by process droids, or someone wants/needs to pigeon hole labels in artificial silos.