Continuous testing

Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate.

For Continuous Testing, the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals.

In the 2010s, software has become a key business differentiator. As a result, organizations now expect software development teams to deliver more, and more innovative, software within shorter delivery cycles. To meet these demands, teams have turned to lean approaches, such as Agile, DevOps, and Continuous Delivery, to try to speed up the SDLC. After accelerating other aspects of the delivery pipeline, teams typically find that their testing process is preventing them from achieving the expected benefits of their SDLC acceleration initiative. Testing and the overall quality process remain problematic for several key reasons.

Organizations adopt Continuous Testing because they recognize that these problems are preventing them from delivering quality software at the desired speed. They recognize the growing importance of software as well as the rising cost of software failure, and they are no longer willing to make a tradeoff between time, scope, and quality.

The goal of continuous testing is to provide fast and continuous feedback regarding the level of business risk in the latest build or release candidate. This information can then be used to determine if the software is ready to progress through the delivery pipeline at any given time.

Since testing begins early and is executed continuously, application risks are exposed soon after they are introduced. Development teams can then prevent those problems from progressing to the next stage of the SDLC. This reduces the time and effort that need to be spent finding and fixing defects. As a result, it is possible to increase the speed and frequency at which quality software (software that meets expectations for an acceptable level of risk) is delivered, as well as decrease technical debt.

Moreover, when software quality efforts and testing are aligned with business expectations, test execution produces a prioritized list of actionable tasks (rather than a potentially overwhelming number of findings that require manual review). This helps teams focus their efforts on the quality tasks that will have the greatest impact, based on their organization's goals and priorities.

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