Keys to Succeed in Continuous Testing

Continuous Testing

The rapid technological developments in this digital era have led to a situation where a product’s capability is not the sole factor to win in the competitive market. In addition to meeting the pressing need or to outstrip competitive offerings, a product also must consider the pace of marketing and user’s experience. In these circumstances, the only choice left with software developers is to bring out apps that meet every requirement of customers, are updated regularly, and delivered on time, all the while making sure to provide a seamless user experience. There is just no room for error, leading to more and more developers opting for continuous testing.

There is a sea change occurring in the manner of software testing. Traditionally, it was performed after completion of the development cycle, causing production delays if any issues came up or bugs found. Now continuous testing is the norm right from the beginning of the software development life-cycle, and all through the development process. Today, testing quality is everyone’s responsibility. Developers keep identifying and resolving issues as and when they arise and deliver regular updated and error-free applications to the end users.

A Culture of Collaboration and Quality

As this is a technical change, it is imperative that the people involved in providing continuous testing services have the right mindset and develop the right tactics, considering testing to be everyone’s responsibility. As testing spreads out across the SDLC, developers and test engineers must find ways to build a mutual understanding of the standard level of quality and efficiency needed to be maintained right from the start of the development process.

Importance of Tests Automation

Testing must not be taken to mean an event that needs to be done at a certain point. Instead, it involves the application of a wide array of tests all through the testing process. This requires integration testing, unit testing, production testing, and automated end-to-end and regression testing. With continuous tests performed at different points all through the development process, it is possible to identify and fix issues with the functionality as well as performance and security. This helps in preventing any kind of obstacles to delay the release and cost the business a fortune.

Although tests performed should focus on variety, it is important to be consistent with automation. In automated testing, a test script is written that interacts with the functional elements of their code in an automated fashion. This helps the developers get immediate feedback on the quality of their code, as soon as they check in their code into the source control. No doubt, automated testing gives better scalability and reliability compared to manual testing.

Leverage Cloud Platform for Scalability and Speed

The whole process of establishing and maintaining the physical or virtual infrastructure and administering test across the various browsers, operating systems and mobile platforms can be both a costly and complex procedure. To get over the situation, cloud technology is providing enormous success. Now developers are making use of the cloud platform for cross-browser testing, helping in offloading all issues related to infrastructure on a daily basis, perform test across almost every type of browser/OS combination, and making sure to keep the test times to a minimum.

Developing a Well-Planned Approach to Analytics

In an optimal state, continuous testingsolutions require a well-planned approach to analytics. It is necessary to incorporate a certain degree of analytics in the testing process to help in applying insights into the product team. With smart analytics, it is possible to detect the various functional issues like which mobile platforms and browsers are showing signs of failure and the level of consistency in the test results of an application.

In addition to functional testing, analytics could also be used to assess user experience and performance like how heavier traffic loads are impacting the user experience, and how new updates to the code are impacting the application performance. The availability of analytic insight helps developers to ensure that the software is developed and deployed with the quality built in.

Conclusion

The Digital Era Demands Continuous Testing

The executive leadership needs to recognize the fast change seen in the world around them. Mobile technologies and cloud-based applications are widely used for performing work at lightning speed. The focus now is more on seamless end-to-end customer experience.

In this digital era, the ability to bring out the best products and give the best digital experience remains the key to attract and retain customers ahead of your competitors. This is made less daunting by the successful application of continuous testing.

Diya works for Cigniti Technologies, which is the world’s first Independent Software Testing Company to be appraised at CMMI-SVC v1.3, Maturity Level 5, and is also ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified.