test methodologies

The earlier you find out about problems in your code, the less impact they have and the less it costs to remediate them. Therefore, it's helpful to move testing activities earlier in the software development lifecycle—shifting it left in the process timeline. This article explores the shift-left methodology and how you can approach shifting left in your organization.

“Shift left” is one of the latest buzz terms in software testing. Movements like agile and DevOps recommend that testers shift left, but what does that mean, exactly? Here's how one tester became a believer in the shift-left movement; how he got his team's developers, analysts, designers, and managers on board; and how his entire organization has benefited from the shift.

In 2015, it was discovered that Volkswagen had equipped millions of its cars with software to cheat on diesel emissions tests. It was a team of independent testers that uncovered the fraud. Jon Hagar tells testers what they can take away from the scandal and gives some recommendations to consider in order to improve the test industry for IoT and embedded systems.

Traditionally, automated scripts are derived from existing test cases. But if we divorce the notion of “automation” from the notions of “test cases” and “test scripts,” we can think of automation as a judicious use of technology to help humans do their jobs. This broadens our world to include different tools that can help testers increase coverage, test faster, and detect trends.