Regardless of industry, more organizations today are finding themselves in the software business – and the complexity of software is only increasing. So it’s no surprise that companies who depend on software are looking for faster and more efficient ways to ensure delivery of high-quality and secure software to their customers. The risks associated with not taking a proactive approach can be costly, and typically end up in the headlines, resulting in brand damage, loss in revenue, etc. So why is it that more companies aren’t taking a proactive approach to software testing?
We interviewed Saro Jahani, CIO at Direct Edge, one of the world’s leading equities exchange operators – and a company that has taken a proactive versus reactive approach to software testing. Through implementing automated testing, the way internal teams operate at Direct Edge has transformed. By moving quality and security testing up to the earliest point in the lifecycle, as the code is written, developers are now able to detect and repair key defects, and ensure critical code is tested automatically much earlier. This has allowed all affected teams, including development, QA and others, to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently and get products out to market faster.
However, implementing this kind of change within an organization was no easy feat. Jahani shared his holistic approach, “In order to successfully adopt development testing, all stakeholders must agree to create a collaborative partnership based on mutual concerns and open communications. These communications should clearly define under what conditions code may be passed to the next level of its lifecycle via a stage gate process; i.e., the code does not contain any uninspected or critical defects. This partnership should be initiated by executive sponsorship to establish enterprise-wide, policy-based expectations and agreements on quality and security thresholds along with enforcement. External stakeholders such as supply chain partners, should also be bound by these code-acceptance criteria.”
Needless to say, this type of change wasn’t implemented over night, but the long-term benefits that can be achieved by finding and fixing defects earlier and faster, far outweigh the short-term discomforts associated with internal culture changes.
With Direct Edge automating traditional QA regression testing and introducing development testing as a way to automatically test code, the company has shortened the downstream QA cycle; by surfacing and remediating issues early in the process when it’s fastest and least expensive, they are able to significantly reduce the risk of software failure and latency issues in production, while accelerating development and release of new functionality. The company is better able to keep pace with the rapid rate of change and deliver high-quality products and services in shorter, more efficient iterations every 4-6 weeks.
To learn more about how and why organizations like Direct Edge are moving away from traditional testing methods and the benefits they are realizing, read our latest white paper, Development Testing for Competitive Advantage.
The post The Need for Change: Moving Away from Traditional Software Testing appeared first on Software Testing Blog.
