Accelerated Delivery with Accuracy in Testing: Happy End-User

Now, we are in the age of digital transformation 2.0 where we all are talking about artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, augmented reality, virtual reality, robotics process automation, internet of things on top of digital transformation 1.0 comprised of mobile, analytics, cloud, social media, big data. Overall, digital transformation talks about accelerated delivery means release the product now or as early as possible. End-users are waiting for the product, for the new features, for the enhancements. Being a product owner or an application owner or a stakeholder- your priority should not only be accelerated delivery but also ensure accuracy in testing. This is mainly due to accelerated delivery with accuracy in testing ensures happy end-users. If you are delivering the product or adding new features but without doing testing or not doing end to end comprehensive testing, there are huge chances of errors occurring in production. This not only increases the overall product cost, but it is also not good for overall end-user experiences. In a competitive market, this is not at all desirable. So, as a product owner you need to think about both the delivery and testing to make the product successful. What I am trying to say is that both are equally important for end-users, while accelerated delivery is important to stay competitive in the market and stay ahead, accuracy in testing will help avoid any potential risk in production, resulting in less product cost and better customer experiences. By saying accuracy in testing – I mean end to end comprehensive testing results covering all types of testing (both functional & non-functional) looking at the different quality attributes to determine well in advance before the release to avoid any future surprises.

Accelerated delivery is now mandatory especially for digital transformation. That is the reason continuous delivery, low-code, no-code development is getting utilized everywhere. Application teams need to release the new features faster or update the features faster. So, accelerated delivery is not only a requirement but also important for staying competitive, or even ahead, in the market which will assist application teams in the long run. Now, assume that you are doing accelerated delivery but without accuracy in testing. Product team will not be confident to say that it is a quality product. Objective is to create speedy quality product not just speedy product. Application team should know that conducting end to end comprehensive testing is important even if it delays the schedule or plan in such a way that not only accelerates delivery but also accelerates testing conducted by project team to ensure speedy but accurate product. If you do that continuously, end-users will stay with you forever and you will be enduring in the market.

So, it is not only about accelerated delivery but also about accuracy in testing which makes your end-user happy. First end to end comprehensive testing needs to be conducted for accuracy in testing. Then you can think about making testing process to be done rapidly to ensure overall goal of an accelerated delivery is met. Fast-tracked, end-to-end comprehensive testing with more focus on automation specially for repetitive testing and regression testing, continuous testing or even shift-left testing helps deliver high-quality, high-performance and high-secure applications which can make your end-user happy. We all know that we can bolster the business in the long run by providing better customer experiences and by creating end-user happiness.

First, think about accuracy in testing to ensure a quality delivery rather than accelerated delivery without (or less) testing resulting in a poor-quality product. By saying accuracy in testing, I am trying to say both verification and validation are equally important, and their results are absolutely required to ensure end-user experiences. Functional, non-functional testing identify the potential software issues, regulatory testing ensures whether software is adhering to all software regulatory rules, standards etc. and if any issue arises then resolves them well in advance before the production release. So, it gives huge confidence ahead of the deployment and guarantees end-user experiences.

End to end comprehensive testing which covers both functional and non-functional testing ensures accuracy in testing and gives confidence ahead of the deployment. By saying comprehensive testing, I mean from unit testing to user acceptance testing- all types of testing looking at different quality attributes and ensure accuracy in testing. Start with unit testing (done by developers), then system testing, followed by integration testing and user acceptance testing or regression or re-testing, if any issues-these are from functional point of view. Then performance testing (load, stress, endurance, spike, volume, scalability, fail-over for example), security testing (penetration, vulnerability for example) from non-functional point of view. You also must do compatible testing (different browsers, OS, devices), protocol testing (Network, IP testing), compliance testing & ensuring with software quality standards, conduct legally compliant testing or checklists like GDPR. End to end comprehensive testing- I mean all of the above types of testing needs to be conducted to ensure accuracy in testing, make the product better with new or updated features & to avoid any potential surprises in production.

Application team always thinks about accelerated delivery, creates proper strategy and plan to implement that and ensure that too. However, if you don’t have any plan for testing or accuracy in testing then your accelerated delivery will not be beneficial even though the product will be released quickly, it will not be a quality product-it could be anything for example buggy, slow or un-secure product. So, testing must be planned carefully and with development to ensure accuracy in testing is absolutely met before the release. Now, you can’t afford to have more time in testing as your overall goal is to confirm accelerated product delivery and successful digital transformation. So, you have to think about that accelerated testing in addition with accelerated delivery like using concepts of automation testing, parallel testing to save time. Accuracy in testing always ensure less project cost for example identifying an issue in production and resolves them is always very costlier rather than finding them at the earlier phases of software development. In the same line, application team can think about shift-left testing to confirm issues and resolve them at early stages and ensure testing accuracy.

Even though you can say that accelerated delivery with accelerated testing ensure more successful digital transformation, however whether you are doing accelerated testing or speedy testing, what matters is accuracy in testing which will determine whether it is quality product in terms of all the quality attributes like functionality, performance, scalability, stability, availability, security, reliability, usability, compatibility etc. So, accelerated delivery and accuracy in testing both are requirement and we can certainly say that accelerated delivery with accuracy in testing will create successful product, ensure digital transformation 2.0 and confirms end-user happiness.