The Purpose of Shift Left Testing
Teams are expected to work more quickly in an Agile environment, cutting down on delivery time while maintaining the high quality of each release. Additionally, they are under more pressure than ever to lower testing expenses.
Within the Agile methodology, several testers with a wide range of expertise participate in the testing process. Thus, developers are now included sooner in the testing cycle. In the testing community, this phenomenon is referred to as "shifting left".
What is Traditional Testing?
In a traditional waterfall software development system, testing took place just before delivery into production. As a result, the release would be postponed until any defects or usability problems discovered in the last stage were resolved.
In this configuration, testing acted as a bottleneck and significantly impeded the project manager's ability to deliver the project on schedule.
What is Shift Left Testing?
Moving the testing phase earlier in the software development life cycle is what the shift left movement is all about. Approaches where testing is only done at the very end of the software development life cycle should be avoided. We implement testing in the early phases of software development by shifting left.
A typical software development approach was sequential up until the late 1990s. Stakeholders only pay attention to the most recent stages of the software development lifecycle and prioritize quality there (the deployment and testing stages). In this sequential paradigm, testing takes place near the conclusion of the project.
In contrast, issues that weren't addressed by tests were frequently discovered by software engineers or product owners. The expense and time involved in fixing such issues after the fact are substantial. In the worst situation, application developers would have to redesign it.
To include the testing team as early as feasible in the software development process, the concept of shift left testing was developed.
How to Get Started with Shift Left Testing?
Implement Testing Early in the Development Process
Find out as a team which tools could be useful for your codebase. I strongly advise utilizing a static code analyzer like ESLint and software performance testing tools like JMeter load testing, which assist in finding errors and eliminating poor coding standards while you're writing.
In addition, the team should consider how testing will be incorporated into the first phases of the software development life cycle. Adopting the Agile technique, which uses brief periods of coding known as sprints, is one potential course of action.
Next, a development and testing phase is included in each sprint. By doing this, it is ensured that all applicable tests are run on even the smallest feature.
It may not be practical for certain firms to make a significant shift to the Agile methodology. The development team may thus decide to write unit tests for each feature they create. They may write business logic with confidence as a result.
Test Automation
Test automation tools should be adopted by the development team because shift left testing necessitates frequent testing. Additionally, to automating the deployment of new builds, testing should be automated for every code increment.
As a result, the testing team will experience less stress and receive faster feedback on the code's reliability.
Coding Standards
Your development team must first decide on the same code standards. There needs to be agreement among all developers. It expedites their code reviews while ensuring improved code quality.
Why is Shift Left Testing Important?
In the conventional software development paradigm, the requirements are kept on the left side of the plan, while the delivery and testing needs are kept on the right. The problem is that traditional methods can't adapt to changing expectations and demands, which leads to unfavorable business outcomes like cost hikes, extended time to market, unanticipated mistakes, etc.
An effective incentive in and of itself is the expense of shifting your testing to the left. More than 50% of software issues may be identified during the requirements phase, with less than 10% occurring during the development phase of the life cycle, according to estimates. A fault found and fixed after the product has been released might cost up to a hundred times as much as one found and fixed during the requirements phase.
Benefits of Shift Left Testing
Automation is one of the main advantages of shift left testing. The likelihood of automating testing increases with a shift to the left. And less human error, more test coverage (several tests may be run simultaneously), better utilization of time, and fewer production issues are just a few of the significant benefits of test automation.
Shift left testing also allows for quicker delivery. Errors may be repaired considerably more rapidly when they are found early in the manufacturing cycle. As a result, the time between releases may be significantly shortened, software quality is enhanced, and customer satisfaction is raised.
The shift left technique has the benefit of producing software more quickly and with fewer defects. If nothing else, the smiles on your coworkers' faces should persuade you that this is a smart choice.
Summary
As discussed, shift left testing has several benefits. By identifying and reducing the number of issues early on in the software development life cycle, we can ensure improved code quality. Most significantly, the development team will save time and money by including testing in the early stages of software development.