Keeping releases moving: a practical look at outsourced QA delivery at Sharp

At Sharp, quality assurance (QA) is already a strong part of how their teams deliver.

The challenge isn’t quality - it’s capacity.

With multiple product streams and regular release cycles, testing can quickly become a bottleneck if everything lands at once. Our role is to provide additional, structured QA capacity that supports their internal teams and keeps releases moving at pace.

In this post, I share how we’re working with Sharp to do exactly that - and what it looks like in practice when outsourced QA becomes part of the delivery flow, rather than something that sits at the end of it.

This is just one part of the work we’re doing with Sharp - for a closer look at the wider picture, you can take a look at the case study.

Working as part of the delivery process

We don’t sit outside of the process - we’re brought in as part of each release cycle.

At the start of a release, Sharp shares detailed release notes, including user stories, designs, acceptance criteria, and any known issues. This gives us everything we need to understand the scope early and prepare our test approach before testing begins.

That early visibility makes a big difference. It means we can build test coverage ahead of time, rather than reacting once development is finished. From there, we work across QA and production environments, starting with user story validation and expanding into wider regression coverage as the release progresses.

We log our findings directly in Jira against the relevant work items, so everything stays connected to the release. Alongside this, we provide regular updates throughout each testing cycle, giving the team a clear view of progress and any emerging risks.

It keeps our outsourced QA visible and predictable - not something that sits at the end, but something that runs alongside delivery.

Adding capacity without slowing things down

One of the key reasons this approach works is that we’re adding capacity, not complexity. We’re not introducing new processes or asking teams to change their approach. Instead, we’re supporting their existing ways of working and helping to remove pressure during critical release periods.

This becomes especially important when multiple streams of work come together for release. Without additional capacity, testing can start to fall behind delivery - not because of capability, but simply because of volume.

By bringing in external QA support, Sharp are able to keep internal teams focused on their core areas, while we help absorb the testing workload during each release cycle. It means releases don’t need to wait for QA to catch up. Testing moves with delivery.

Defining what "release-ready" looks like

As part of this way of working, we’ve helped Sharp define what “ready for release” actually means. Rather than relying on an informal sign-off at the end of testing, we’ve worked together to bring more clarity to the point at which a release is considered ready to go.

This includes agreeing on what needs to be in place - for example, completed testing against defined acceptance criteria, visibility of any outstanding defects, and confidence in the key user journeys that matter most.

It’s a simple shift, but an important one.

It moves the conversation away from “has it been tested?” and towards “is this genuinely ready to release?” - giving teams more confidence in their decisions and reducing uncertainty at the end of each cycle.

This is something we explore further in how we define release readiness more broadly - but here, it’s very much part of how we support delivery day-to-day.

Making regression work across multiple streams

Regression testing plays a critical role in maintaining stability across Sharp’s products. We take a manual, experience-led approach to regression testing, focusing on real user journeys and how the system behaves in practice.

Over time, we’ve built a way of working that allows us to keep regression effective without slowing delivery down. Instead of short, reactive bursts of testing, we work on a longer-term schedule, which allows us to assign dedicated testers to products while maintaining visibility across other streams.

This consistency helps ensure that core functionality is continuously validated, without creating pressure points at the end of each release.

Keeping communication close and continuous

A big part of keeping delivery moving is how we work together day-to-day. We stay closely connected throughout each release - aligning in planning sessions, working through a shared Teams channel, and logging all findings directly in Jira.

That level of communication means nothing is sitting in isolation. Everyone has visibility of what’s happening, what’s been found, and what needs attention. It also means decisions can be made quickly. There’s no delay in understanding impact or risk - the information is already there.

What this delivers in practice

When you bring this approach together, the impact is clear.

Sharp maintains momentum across releases without QA becoming a bottleneck. Their internal teams can focus on their core work, while we provide the additional capacity needed to support testing at pace. Release cycles move more predictably, teams have greater visibility, and there’s more confidence in what’s being delivered.

Outsourced QA doesn’t need to slow delivery down. When it’s structured in the right way - and supported with the right level of capacity - it becomes part of how internal teams deliver.

That’s the value of this model: keeping delivery moving, while maintaining confidence in the quality of what’s being released. And that’s exactly what we aim to support through our dedicated QA teams.

About Zoonou

Zoonou is a UK-based digital QA company. We’re a B Corp and 100% employee owned. We work with organisations like Sharp to embed structured, flexible QA into delivery teams - helping them scale testing capacity, maintain momentum, and build confidence in what they release.