August 7, 2019

What Is Continuous Testing in DevOps? 

Continuous Testing
Automation

Continuous testing in DevOps is becoming a must-have for today's teams. But what is continuous testing? Here we cover what continuous testing is and the continuous testing benefits you can expect.

Read along or jump ahead to the continuous testing section that interests you most:

What Is Continuous Testing in DevOps?

Continuous testing is a software testing methodology that helps identify and address risks at all stages of the development pipeline. In other words, it means testing all potential code changes as early as possible. The goal of continuous testing is to minimize business risk and impact on users. 

As the impact of software became bigger and bigger over the years, the expectations of quality grew with it. A continuous testing framework became a useful tool to address the faster release cycles in order to combat any issues along the development process. 

Today, continuous testing is considered a standard part of the testing strategy of organization that knows the importance of delivering quality in a timely manner.

What Is DevOps Continuous Testing?

DevOps continuous testing means the same thing: testing code changes as early and often as possible. Continuous testing plays an important role in DevOps — and testing continuously is important for all DevOps teams.

Testing in the Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline is also an important step of the process. Automating tests and testing continuously helps ensure rapid delivery. 

Why Continuous Testing in DevOps Is Important

Continuous testing in DevOps is important to:

  • Improve quality.
  • Accelerate releases.
  • Reduce costs.

Automated tools help software developers make better release decisions with in-the-moment feedback about critical software defects. Continuous testing in Agile reduces costly manual testing. It balances the demand for quick delivery of features with high-quality code.

By treating test code as if it were production code, faulty code rarely finds its way into a production environment. Before software is ready to be released into the wild, testing continuously can give software vendors confidence that code changes will have maximum impact with minimal risk to their business' bottom line.

[Related Blog: Manual Testing vs. Automated Testing vs. Continuous Testing]

For an in-depth look at continuous testing, watch this panel webinar with QA industry oracles Michael Bolton, Eran Kinsbruner, and James Bach.

 

Testing Lab

The testing lab component is possibly the most important pillar for success. When the lab is unstable, outdated, and cannot support hundreds of concurrent executions across different mobile/OS permutations, continuous testing is slow and flaky. Mature DevOps relies on a lab that can support this exact level of scalability and elasticity.

Analysis

Teams cannot move fast enough when they have no abilities to quickly analyze test results and filter noises among huge piles of test data. Mature CT in DevOps depends on being able to get quality visibility, analyze root cause analysis of issues, and optimize the overall quality activities in the pipeline.

Test Continuously With Perfecto

With faster, more flexible software delivery and stronger code, continuous testing in Agile is quickly becoming the mainstay for software vendors looking to quickly roll out new features while keeping their user experience stable and strengthening their brand.

Continuous testing at every stage of software development helps minimize business risk and ensure companies are delivering high-quality, modern code ready for the future.

Gain continuous testing benefits with the right tools. 

Perfecto is proud to offer the only unified DevOps continuous testing solution on the market. It covers each of the four key pillars:

  • Streamlined test creation.
  • Scalable test execution.
  • Smart analysis.
  • All based out of a leading cloud-based lab.

Continuous testing in DevOps can be complicated — that's why we offer a blueprint for your success, too.

See for yourself how Perfecto can help you embrace continuous testing. Get started with a free trial today.

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