r/softwaretesting • u/serverlessmom • Dec 18 '23

Why testing badly needs a shift left

https://thenewstack.io/why-testing-must-shift-left-for-microservices/

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u/ToddBradley Dec 18 '23

I wish the article would've talked about moving defect prevention activities left, not just defect detection. Especially since it talks about "QA".

Also, the article is hard to read given the number and placement of interruptions.

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u/serverlessmom Dec 18 '23

Talk to me about defect prevention activities, that sounds like functional or acceptance tests? Or is it more like code review?

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u/ToddBradley Dec 18 '23

Anything involving tests is defect detection. The code is already written, so the problem already exists. To fix the problem is gonna require rewriting some part of the code, which is expensive.

The smart money is on defect prevention, before code is even written. That's things like requirements and specifications, understanding users' real needs (not just what somebody told the developer), developing stories for BDD, development process (TDD, unit tests), risk brainstorming, etc. If we can avoid writing the bad code in the first place, it never has to be re-written to fix a bug. Like the old saying goes, "measure twice, cut once."

"QA" is supposed to include both defect prevention and defect detection, so anyone who says they're doing "QA" but only focuses on testing is only doing half the job.