Shift Left Approach

 For my last blog post for this class, I found an article online that talks about the practice of shifting-left in software quality assurance. This approach more or less emphasizes the importance of introducing quality assurance to earlier phases in the development process. Testing from the initial phase of development is supposed to prevent the amount of defects and issues from piling up at the end of development. Having testing done throughout the development phases can also lessen the workload for the quality assurance team.


https://hackernoon.com/embracing-the-shift-left-approach-revolutionizing-quality-assurance-in-software-development


According to the article, the cost of testing and post-production vastly outweighs the cost of development and planning. It posits that testing earlier and more frequently catches bugs earlier on, and reduces the overall cost of development. This goes very hand in hand with the agile software development methodology we learned about last semester. The world of software development has become much more fast paced, and the current landscape pushes for finished products with minimal defects at launch. 


I  have seen online the mentality that a product that ships with any problems is often ostracized. Consumers want minimal issues and problems when interacting with any kind of software, and that goes doubly for large companies. Having software testers involved since the start of development would allow teams a more seamless development experience.


One model for development that the article proposes has each stage of development separated by a quality check gate, in which test cases are implemented. When all defects are found and fixed, only then can the development team move on to the next stage of the process. I think this a very good system that could fit well within the agile sprint methodology. Leave time at the end of the sprint, but before the sprint retrospective, for the quality assurance team to check the code, then at the retrospective they can sign off on the state of the project. If there are any bugs that could not be fixed within this sprint, the testers can assign it as an issue for the next one. 


During the Development Capstone project, this could be used to manage the teams next semester. Have team members focus on quality assurance near the end of the sprint, and then collect their feedback at the sprint retrospective. Another way would be to have one or two teams act as quality assurance throughout the whole semester. Either way it could save a bit of headaches for everyone.

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