QA Onboarding Checklist: How to Succeed as the Only QA on a Project 🚀

Being the only QA on a project can be overwhelming. No ready-made processes, no clear documentation, and no one to guide you through what needs to be done.

I’ve been in this situation multiple times in my career, and each time I saw the same problems repeating over and over. Then I saw other QA engineers who struggle. That’s why I created a QA Must-Haves Checklist — a structured onboarding guide that helps testers (and project managers) avoid chaos and start strong from day one.

🌟 Why I Created This Checklist

Several times in my career I faced the same challenge: being the only QA on a project, trying to figure everything out without proper onboarding or processes in place.

❌ Common problems I saw:

• A new QA gets lost in the flow of tasks and doesn’t even know what to ask first.
• Too much time is wasted chasing access, credentials, or the right people.
• The QA’s area of responsibility is unclear, which leads to conflicts with the team.
• Critical things (like Jira workflow or bug reporting templates) are discovered only later, when issues already appear.

And in the end, the PM is not happy, because:

• QA work looks inefficient.
• The project slows down.
• The whole team wastes time answering chaotic questions instead of moving forward.

All of this makes onboarding painful and slows down the effectiveness of QA.

🚀 How This Checklist Helps

For a new QA joining a project — especially when they are the only tester — this checklist acts as a roadmap:

• Brings structure to the chaos – instead of guessing what to do first, the QA has a clear starting point.
• Saves time – no endless back-and-forth about “where to report bugs” or “who owns access.”
• Clarifies responsibilities – the QA understands what falls under their scope and what doesn’t.
• Supports professional growth – instead of just “testing buttons,” the QA starts seeing the bigger picture: metrics, releases, environments, defect management, and even bug root cause analysis.

But it’s not just for QAs.

👉 Project Managers can also use this checklist as a tool to onboard new testers. It ensures they know exactly which questions matter most, what information to provide upfront, and how to set clear expectations for quality processes from day one.

The result? A smoother onboarding, less frustration on both sides, and a more efficient project overall.

📝 What’s Inside the Checklist?

The checklist is divided into practical sections that cover every key area a QA needs to understand:

• General – methodology, QA metrics, credentials.
• Jira – workflow, ticket handling, backlog management.
• Defect Management – how to report bugs, where to track them.
• Releases – release flow, ownership, responsibilities.
• Environments – staging, production, test data.
• Testing Process – priorities, regression scope, automation coverage.
• Test Documentation – what exists, where it lives, how it’s updated.
• Other – including bug analysis and root cause tracking.

Each section contains guiding questions that the QA should ask to fully understand the project setup.

🎁 Access the Full Checklist

In this article, I only shared the structure of the checklist.
You can find the full version (44 questions) along with .xlsx, .csv, and Google Sheets formats in my open-source repository here:

👉 QA Onboarding Checklist on GitHub

Feel free to copy, adapt, and contribute!

💬 Final Thoughts

Onboarding shouldn’t feel like detective work. With the right structure, QAs can start adding value from day one instead of spending weeks untangling processes.

This checklist helped me and my teams many times — I hope it can help you too.
If you’ve ever been the only QA on a project, I’d love to hear: what questions were most critical for you at the start?

Let’s make QA onboarding smoother, together.