DevOps promotes the adoption of shift-left testing as a key practice to enhance the efficiency, collaboration and overall quality of software development and delivery in general.
Shift-left testing involves moving the test procedures earlier in the software development lifecycle. Ideally, at the start of initial design and development. This is a different to how most companies structure their QA processes, which is at the end of the development phase.
Below are some reasons why DevOps recommends shift-left testing and what the benefits are:
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Faster Feedback Loop
Early testing provides faster feedback to developers regarding the quality of their code. Developers can receive immediate feedback on their changes, allowing them to make corrections promptly. This accelerates the development process and improves collaboration between development and QA teams.
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Reduced Time to Market
The advantage of identifying and fixing issues earlier in the developer process, means you can produce a more predicatable time to market, as you cut down the chance of hitting blocking bugs at the end of the development process.
Teams can now release websites or apps with greater confidence, because they know it has been undergoing thorough testing from the start of development.
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Collaboration Across Teams
Shift-left testing promotes collaboration between development, testing and DevOps teams. Testing now becomes an important part of the development process, which means different teams work together to ensure the quality and reliability of the website or mobile application.
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Cost Savings
Detecting and fixing bugs earlier in the process is more cost-effective than addressing issues in later stages of development, let alone after the release. Shift-left testing contributes to cost savings by minimizing the need for extensive rework and bugfixing.
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Promotes Agile Practices
Shift-left testing aligns with Agile development practices. It allows development teams to iteratively build, test and deliver software in shorter cycles.
