DevOps is one of the latest and most popular approaches to software development, delivery, and maintenance. It is quite the buzzword among IT companies for improving applications in terms of quality, efficiency, and speed.
One of the most crucial factors behind the advantages offered by the DevOps principle is shift left testing. It shortens the feedback loop and also reduces the time taken for the product movements so that it can get delivered faster. It helps in reducing the rate of failure and minimizes the time and resource wastage in the course of software application development. That is why some businesses often consider DevOps as a service.
What are the benefits of shift left testing?
The principle of shifting left in the DevOps improves the overall quality along with empowering the developers working on the software project. It happens from the very beginning of the task.
As the name suggests, it shifts the overall process of reviewing, testing, issue detection, and resolution to the left. This means the teams can now work proactively, preventing wastage of time and resources from the very beginning.
The benefits offered by this testing approach include:
Improvement in the quality and efficiency of the overall developmental process.
Effective reduction in the time taken for developing and testing.
Minimizing the chances of bugs and other production issues that might occur during the entire procedure.
It helps lay the foundation for continuous testing and deployment, which is an excellent measure for developing better software applications.
Easier automation of the provisioning and deployment of the overall build of the software.
How to ensure the success of shift left testing?
With the increase in time, the complexity of the project also increases. The larger theproject scale, the larger the feedback loop it would need. Consequently, it would also require a greater amount of resources. However, these will not add value to the project butinstead, increase wastage. It will hamper the overall quality and efficiency of the software application, which is of course not the intention.
So, to ensure the success of shift left, here are a few things that need to be done –
Firstly, it is essential to get all the stakeholders on the same page for shifting the testing and reviewing procedure to the left. When all the stakeholders, including coders, executives, and others, are working together, side-by-side at a time, they will be able to know about one another’s responsibilities. It will encourage them to agree to a single development and deployment procedure, identify the issues, and find solutions. The stakeholders will be able to do it all together, as a team.
It is essential to plan appropriate testing throughout the entire lifecycle of the development. One-time testing will not give you the desired DevOps outcome. To get the best and desired results, the team must carry out frequent and early testing. This should continue throughout the course of the project. It will help in early error detection and reduce the costs related to rectifications. The practice helps in project quality maintenance throughout the lifecycle.
Automation is taking over different industries and it should be embraced in DevOps too. With automation, businesses will develop the code faster and execute more tests within a shorter period. It would encourage continuous development activities and help in getting faster feedback. It will also help the teams to make the suggested changes quickly and efficiently. They can also look at the analytics report to get a better idea.
The DevOps concept can only work successfully when different stakeholders work in a collaborative environment. Thus, companies must ensure seamless communication between the developers and testers to get success from the shift left. In such a collaborative environment, the teams will be able to work effectively, both individually and together. It would ensure the development of better quality software applications, that too, within the stipulated time and budget.
Companies should also try to switch the roles of the stakeholders. They can ask the coders to do testing and the testers to do coding, sometimes. This practice will reduce the dependence rate, and all the entities will be able to carry out critical tasks throughout the product’s development cycle.
Firms can also think about defining quality goals at each stage of product development. It would ensure that the quality standards are maintained throughout. It will help in reducing the margin of critical bugs along with preventing costly resolutions.
The concept of shifting left is related to continuous testing. So it is essential to use the right tools for carrying out the process. With the right kind of tools, teams will be able to maintain flawless continuity in the whole development and delivery cycle, along with maintaining the deadlines and the always-changing demands of the customers.
