Why You Need to Test Continuously
What is continuous testing? Continuous testing is about incorporating a testing mentality at every stage in the software development lifecycle. It allows you to verify the quality of software after each code change in an automated way within the continuous integration process.
Continuous testing reduces risk and removes the testing bottleneck. It allows for fixes during sprint rather than after. It also reduces developer’s bug fixing time.
In an ideal world, DevOps runs continuously. But the reality is that most teams’ DevOps pipelines are broken. Manual testing is slow. Automation is flaky. And worst of all, testing holds back innovation.
No matter where you are at, Perfecto can take your testing to where it needs to be.
How to Accomplish Continuous Testing
Continuous testing improves efficiencies across the entire DevOps pipeline — but it’s not easy to accomplish. Here are the five steps to reaching a state of continuous testing.
4 Keys to a Continuous Testing Framework
The foundation of continuous testing is comprised of four elements. These work together to enforce a strong, unified strategy. Each element relies on each other — when one fails, they all do. But together, they form an optimized foundation to evolve automated testing into a fully optimized testing process.
Streamlined Test Creation
Getting test creation right is critical. Without it, testing becomes the bottleneck. You’ll experience slower releases. And you’ll spend more time fixing bugs — which means less time innovating.
Skill-matched test creation tools are an important piece of a continuous testing solution. Whether it’s Appium, Selenium, or an AI-powered codeless testing solution, it’s critical to utilize the right tools for your needs.
Scalable Test Execution
Continuous testing requires you to achieve a high degree of automation. In order to achieve that automation, you need to be able to orchestrate large testing suites across platforms. This enables high-velocity testing, as well as elastic scaling — both of which are critical to continuous testing as you grow.
A 24/7 Stable Lab
In order to achieve continuous testing, you need a stable testing lab. Why? Because without the foundation of a reliable lab, your tests will not be able to execute at full force. And that will slow down the entire DevOps process.
A testing lab needs to be enterprise-grade, scalable, and secure with smart, self-healing capabilities. And because it has near-zero downtime, you can be sure all your tests will run smoothly.
Smart Test Analysis
The only way to achieve a fully optimized testing cycle is if you have fast feedback. Without a test reporting solution, teams have to sift through mountains of data. It slows down the testing process. But a smart test analytics solution can provide AI-powered insights that can speed up the process.
Automated Testing vs. Continuous Testing
At first glance, “automated testing” and “continuous testing” might seem interchangeable. But continuous testing is about more than test automation.
Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as a part of the software delivery pipeline. This is done to obtain feedback on business risks associated with a software release. It also leads to quicker release schedules, all while ensuring your brand’s reputation and the user experience are protected.
3 Fundamentals of Continuous Testing
Don’t let testing hold you back — keep up with the pace of innovation. After all, innovation is key to staying competitive. Continuous testing allows teams to move faster and accelerate the testing process. It also avoids business-killing software failures by ensuring continuous alignment of three critical factors.
Test Automation Strategy for Beginners
Automated testing is intimidating for beginners. How can teams infuse automation into the DevOps process and achieve continuous testing? Use this eBook to understand how to craft a test automation strategy that will empower your DevOps processes, accelerate delivery, and reduce manual labor.
Continuous Testing in DevOps: 8 Considerations for Managers
End-to-End Continuous Testing Support
The Perfecto platform gives DevOps teams everything they need to develop, implement, and maintain continuous testing throughout the DevOps pipeline. In fact, it’s the only solution on the market to offer test creation, execution, and test results analysis all based out of a cloud-based lab. The Perfecto platform also offers the following:
Key Insights in the CI Pipeline
The Perfecto CI dashboard provides end-to-end visibility for testing. This dashboard helps teams reduce the duration of the build assessment and get to actionable answers faster. It also include a high-level summary of the results of each build test. The summary includes:
- Artifacts
- Filtering by branches
- Build trending over time
- Build execution length trends
- And more
Fast Feedback and Analytics
To support a continuous testing pipeline, teams need a fast feedback loop from the time code is being changed, tested, and ready to release. Perfecto offers an all-in-one smart test reporting and analytics solution for fast feedback and visibility throughout the DevOps pipeline.
Each team member, whether a developer, tester, or executive, can leverage test automation dashboards and reports — complete with logs, videos, network files, etc. — to get the insights needed to drive quality data-driven decisions.
Open & Integrated
Perfecto’s Smart Testing Lab enables DevOps teams to develop and test their web and mobile apps using all the leading test automation frameworks, IDEs, and continuous integration servers. Perfecto integrates with more frameworks, including:
In addition, DevOps teams can leverage our rich IDE plugins for Eclipse, IntelliJ, Android Studio, and Visual Studio, and execute their build acceptance tests using Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo and more.