This is a guest blog by Zephyr, a Valiantys partner offering real-time solutions designed to transform how development and QA teams work and collaborate, helping them release higher quality software on time. In this blog, we take a look at the ever-evolving software testing landscape, and the key changes 2016 is likely to bring.
In 2016, timelines for releasing quality software and apps will continue to shrink as more and more companies rely on the timely release of top-notch software to remain competitive. As Agile software development continues to gain traction over waterfall methodologies, meeting these shortened deadlines becomes slightly easier for software developers and testers.
It’s little surprise, then that Agile software testing will continue to grow in prominence. But what other trends and changes should we expect to see in 2016?
Testers being asked to do more
The role of software testers has changed dramatically over the past few years as waterfall continues to give way to Agile and DevOps. With condensed release cycles, companies need all of their software development professionals, including testers, to do more than ever before to ensure that software is coded, tested and released in record time. This means that testers are now often involved with coding, team management and support in addition to their core duties, according to TechTarget.
Throughout 2016 this will become even more pronounced. Software testing professionals should anticipate being asked to do more, and often with fewer resources to boot. Under this pressure, teams in this space may find that by having enterprise test management software will help them become much better equipped to handle their responsibilities.
More test automation
With release cycles decreasing in 2016, organisations are looking to eliminate any obstacles between when software is conceptualised to when it finally hits the market. However in this rush to quickly deliver a finished product, quality cannot take a back seat. If a product is not up to par, competitors will seize the opportunity to take market share away from you. First impressions are key, and the software marketplace is fiercer than ever.
For software development professionals, these twin concerns seemingly put them between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand they want to be quick, but on the other they want to be thorough. Can both realistically be achieved?
The answer to this conundrum lies in automation. When software development professionals are able to automate as much of their processes as possible using Agile, automated software testing solutions, they can code and test software more quickly, putting them in a much stronger position to quickly meet end-user demand for a quality product. Test automation is already widely deployed, and will continue to grow this year.
DevOps will become more mainstream
One of the biggest goals of Agile software testing and development is to break down the silos that used to exist between teams, with the idea being that fewer barriers means less obstacles during the development process. Typically, accompanying Agile in helping meet this goal is DevOps.
A portmanteau of development and operations, DevOps is a broad cultural phenomenon that sees developers and operations professionals working closely together throughout a piece of software’s entire lifecycle. While it’s technically possible to be Agile without DevOps, many firms have found such a state to be difficult to achieve without it. For many organisations, DevOps testing is the key through which the ultimate goals of Agile software development are finally achieved, which is why it will likely continue to grow in popularity over the next few months.
Security even more paramount
Just when it seems like we’ve seen the biggest hack ever, another one comes along to usurp it. While most data breaches and leaks don’t involve poorly coded software or hardware, the climate of fear in regard to hackers is still more intense than ever before. CEOs can now lose their jobs due to cybersecurity failures, meaning the pressure is on teams at all levels to more effectively safeguard data and other critical assets. Unless this rising tide is somehow abated in 2016, expect software development and testing professionals to be under more pressure than ever before in regard to cybersecurity and data loss prevention.
As far as testing process and agile software development changes are concerned, this list is just scratching the surface – stayed tuned for the latest trends and developments in this space!
