{"id":15166,"date":"2021-01-28T19:44:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T14:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cigniti.com\/blog\/?p=15166"},"modified":"2021-01-28T19:44:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T14:14:48","slug":"shift-left-testing-qa-continuous-value-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/shift-left-testing-qa-continuous-value-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Shift-left testing for continuous delivery of quality and value at speed"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Marcus Bach, Founder and CEO of Satisfice, Inc. and trainer and consultant, says, \u201cTesting is the process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous, so as to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The recently released World Quality Report paints\u00a0<\/span>a rather positive<\/span>\u00a0picture of<\/span>\u00a0the state of<\/span>\u00a0testing and QA.\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>s the need for both Quality AND value at speed becomes\u00a0<\/span>imminent<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>software\u00a0<\/span>testing<\/span>\u00a0is gaining higher prominence for organizations\u00a0<\/span>trying to accelerate digital transformation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The report says, \u201c<\/span>Expectations of QA have been steadily increasing. There is an upward trend in almost every case for the objectives<\/span>\u00a0that<\/span>\u00a0include the need to support business growth and the importance of ensuring end-user satisfaction. Both of these indicate that QA is no longer seen as a backroom discipline, divorced from the rest of the organization. If you hear fewer soundbites about QA and more about digital transformation, it\u2019s not because QA has ceased to be relevant, but because the contribution of QA is implicit in the success of the digital transformation. QA has been steadily evolving \u2013 from an independent function to an integrated function, and now to an inclusive function. Also, the role of QA practitioner is transforming from testing and finding defects, to ensuring that other engineering team members inculcate quality in their way of working. They need to do this by enabling them and by removing any impediments on their way to achieving quality objectives. QA is not only shifting left but also moving right.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Objectives of QA and testing<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Major business stakeholders have identified the following o<\/span>bjectives of Quality Assurance and Testing in the<\/span>ir<\/span>\u00a0organization:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Business assurance:\u00a0<\/span>C<\/span>ontribute to business growth and business outcomes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Custodian of quality: Detect software defects before go-live<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Digital happiness: Ensure end-user satisfaction and customer experience<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Brand ambassador: Protect the corporate image and branding<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Quality at speed: Speed up software releases with good quality<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Automate: Make QA and testing a smarter automated process<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Quality enablement: Support everybody in the team to achieve higher quality<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Although the findings of the report provide ample evidence about the increasing awareness surrounding the value of QA, the testing community still has a long way to go when it comes to implementing the practices at the ground level.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Testing \u2013 Shift-left or Squish-right<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    James defines testing as \u201cthe process of evaluating a product by learning about it through exploration and experiment\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Testing is an extensive and exhaustive process, which requires dedicated and committed individuals who can help stakeholders make the right decisions about a software product and its release. Given the demands for \u2018Quality at speed\u2019 and \u2018Value at speed\u2019, organizations have embraced a number of new technologies and methodologies. With the primary focus on \u2018speed\u2019, testing often has to suffer\u00a0<\/span>due to<\/span>\u00a0insufficient time and inadequate coverage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    In recent years, to overcome these challenges, the concept of shifting QA and testing left has become popular.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Shift Left testing recommends reversing the testing approach and involving system\/software testing earlier in the lifecycle. Practically, it means moving the testing approach\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0the left end\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0the project timeline.<\/span>\u00a0This would provide more time to the testers to evaluate a code, improve test coverage, identify critical defects before release and prevent defect leakage into production, higher user satisfaction, and ultimately increase ROI.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    However, “programmers generally won\u2019t stop coding to spend days developing and performing deep testing. What they mean by \u201ctesting\u201d is relatively simple output checking. Deep testing may never happen in a shift-left regime, which then forces that work to the right \u2014 into the world of production and users.<\/span>\u00a0James Bach<\/span>\u00a0call<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0that \u201csquish left and right,” which means that there is pressure not to allow testers to perform a competent test process. How do we resist this pressure? How do we sell testing?”,\u00a0<\/span>he\u00a0<\/span>asks<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Finding the right answer<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As businesses transform digitally, testing approaches need to evolve. More testing, earlier testing, and broader testing, all contribute to a well-rounded product. Any business that hopes to survive must also care about the digital impression and connect it provides to its customers, even if it has a physical product. Ultimately, including testing as a process right from the get-go of the application lifecycle process and refining the test cases as per user feedback, both are not only desired but also essential for businesses to guarantee digital assurance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Cigniti has invited James Bach to speak in our upcoming webinar on how to pitch testing at the right stage of your digital transformation to see comprehensive results. The session will help the attendees understand the impact of testing at various stages of digital transformation and how it can help safeguard customers, users, and brands from embarrassing technical issues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Register for the webinar<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and save your spot to listen to James\u2019 insightful presentation live on Feb 17th, 2021.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Being a global leader in the independent\u202f<\/span>software testing<\/span><\/a>\u202fand\u202f<\/span>quality engineering<\/span><\/a>\u202fservices, Cigniti is a strong advocate of Quality Assurance and its implementation right from the early stages of the software lifecycle.\u202fWe\u202fencourage customer feedback and believe in including such feedback in\u202four\u202fbroader testing approach. We take great measures to ensure that we are fully equipped with state-of-the-art services and have partnered with other experts that specialize in providing testing services.\u202f<\/span>Talk to us<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    James Marcus Bach, Founder and CEO of Satisfice, Inc. and trainer and consultant, says, \u201cTesting is the process of comparing the invisible to the ambiguous, so as to avoid the unthinkable happening to the anonymous.\u201d\u00a0 The recently released World Quality Report paints\u00a0a rather positive\u00a0picture of\u00a0the state of\u00a0testing and QA.\u00a0As the need for both Quality AND […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":15167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[3391,2102,3181,3388,3393,2092,1536,3390,3389,3392,434,218],"ppma_author":[3727],"class_list":["post-15166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software-testing","tag-continuous-testing-using-shift-lift","tag-digital-transformation-services","tag-digital-transformation-webinar","tag-james-bach-webinar","tag-qa-and-testing-left","tag-quality-engineering-services","tag-shift-left-approach","tag-shift-left-devops","tag-shift-left-strategy","tag-shift-left-continuous-testing","tag-shift-left-testing","tag-software-testing"],"authors":[{"term_id":3727,"user_id":20,"is_guest":0,"slug":"cigniti","display_name":"About Cigniti (A Coforge Company)","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Coforge-blog-Logo.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Coforge-blog-Logo.png"},"user_url":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/","last_name":"(A Coforge Company)","first_name":"About Cigniti","job_title":"","description":"Cigniti Technologies Limited, a Coforge company, is the world\u2019s leading AI & IP-led Digital Assurance and Digital Engineering services provider. Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, Cigniti\u2019s 4200+ employees help Fortune 500 & Global 2000 enterprises across 25 countries accelerate their digital transformation journey across various stages of digital adoption and help them achieve market leadership by providing transformation services leveraging IP & platform-led innovation with expertise across multiple verticals and domains.\r\n
    \r\nLearn more about Cigniti at     www.cigniti.com<\/a> and about Coforge at www.coforge.com<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15166"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigniti.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=15166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}