How does Continuous Testing in CI/CD matter

The digitally savvy users of today do not settle for any ‘below-par’ product and want the very best, combining the latest technologies, features, functionalities but at a cost-effective rate. For enterprises, this ever-increasing customer demand for better products has put them in a bind. On the one hand, they need to enhance the quality of their software products continuously by incorporating better features and bug fixes, while on the other they need to do so without increasing the price of the product. This has led them to adopt the Agile-DevOps methodology and achieve a quick rollout of quality products within fast turnarounds. The practice of continuous testing is part of this culture that entails producing daily or even hourly software updates. Since speed cannot be sacrificed at the altar of CI/CD, enterprises have gone for a continuous test automation framework. However, notwithstanding the changing customer preferences of being less tolerant towards glitches while expecting faster updates and fixes, building a continuous integration testing pipeline can be challenging.

What is continuous testing?

It is the process of testing the features and functionalities of an application throughout the development cycle to check whether they match the expected outcomes. Continuous testing takes place at every stage of the software development process – writing, building, or executing the code. Since tracking code testing at every level manually is not feasible, continuous test automation is used. As a result, bugs are identified and fixed early in the SDLC and the final product is delivered shorn of any quality issues. Also, it reduces the cost of any rework, which would have to be done post-delivery should there be any bugs found in the product. However, not every test can be automated. A continuous testing pipeline is about the following:

Identifying and fixing bugs very early in the release pipeline

Testing the application at various stages continuously before its final deployment

Test the application across devices and environments

Why use continuous testing in the first place?

In an Agile-DevOps led build scenario Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) are the two outcomes. So, to achieve CI/CD, testers need to execute continuous integration testing for two reasons:

Michael works for Cigniti Technologies, which is the world's first Independent Software Testing Company to be appraised at CMMI-SVC Level 5, and an ISO 9001:2008 & ISO 27001:2013 certified organization.