The growing adoption of DevOps and CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) culture is pushing DevOps departments to automate their continuous testing practices. At the same time, manual testing is now too slow, too expensive, not reliable enough. Continuous testing is becoming indispensable.
Developers need near-instant notification of software changes to quickly resolve quality issues without disrupting the code. So we decided to highlight 6 key tips before thinking about redesigning your DevOps method from testing to continuous testing.
To the right DevOps the right tools
There is more to continuous testing than just a few tools. But you will need the best tools to succeed. In fact, we invite you to read our article on the must-have Devops tools.
First, make sure that all the tools you want to use integrate well with your IDE (integrated development environment) and your processes. For this step, there is no one-size-fits-all answer as each organization has its own tools, architectures, frameworks and APIs. For example, your tools may need to enable API-level testing, support mobile, hybrid and native environments, meet certain technical roles, etc.
Accuracy and speed are also paramount. If a tool can't meet the deployment speed you need, or generates too many false positives, adoption is compromised. Similarly, make sure the tools support everything you need to create your project from the ground up.
Also, make sure that the tools support traceability to easily find the origin of a malfunction.
In general, it is important to involve your entire team in this choice and to take into account all the specificities of your organization.
Automated testing: a crucial step
Automation is essential to continuous testing if you want to get away from hours of manual testing work. However, how you automate is very important.
Also bear in mind that automated tests don't usually test all aspects of an application (such as the end-user experience). You need humans to make subjective assessments. However, you can also automate these tests by adding an application review. But in any case, humans will have to complete the actual evaluation and arbitrate in the event of potential problems buried in the code.
Be careful when adding new continuous tests
Make sure you maintain good hygiene when adding new tests for new code. New tests should increase efficiency, not dilute it. Also remember to add new tests as soon as you have encountered a bug in a software implementation.
What you don't want to do is ignore the errors in your tests. This form of complacency can set in when some tests go wrong and are then ignored and muted. Don't fall into this trap. Don't let failed tests accumulate in your projects, as this only increases the risk of delivering a defective final software product.
The key is your ability to maintain your old test version while ensuring the quality of new tests.
Never skimp on security in DevOps
Sometimes security is overlooked at the expense of speed of delivery. This can lead to vulnerabilities in the code, leading to unwanted process slowdowns.
When testing, treat security flaws as you would any other problem in your DevOps. The DevOps philosophy allows you to release features and patches faster than ever, so use them too to fix security flaws and vulnerabilities before they wreak havoc on your application.
A tip: If security issues appear in the test release, check their severity and set a threshold of "acceptable risk" to your business. If this threshold is exceeded, notify your DevOps team and let them know.
Ignoring the flaws will not make them go away.
Keep the human element in your CI/CD approach
The added value of automated tools reaches its limit where humans still have a role to play. Even the best tools need human hands.
For example, a static analysis tool cannot understand business logic. To find business logic flaws, you often have to perform a manual review of the secure code by examining the application source code line by line. While this is manual, time-consuming, laborious and error-prone, manual analysis is still the most effective way to discover flaws in the architecture and design of deployed applications.
At the moment, only a human expert is capable of interpreting tests and results. Thus, even with continuous testing, human intelligence must be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline to arbitrate whether continuous testing is sufficient or whether manual testing should be implemented.
Involve the QA (Quality Assurance) team in the Continuous Testing Process
When working in Agile and DevOps mode, it's the developers who write and run the tests, not the QA teams. But there's nothing to stop you consulting their expertise to help developers write better quality/security tests. The quality team can also help maintain a certain test framework, and correct irregular tests. The approach and way of thinking of QA teams is fundamentally different from that of developers. The contribution of their point of view can only be positive.
If your QA team doesn't have in-house coding skills, you can still consult them upstream for test reviews, for example.
At Blue Soft, we work daily with many DevOps experts and consultants. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have needs within your organization and would like to implement DevOps methods for continuous testing!
