Scale up engineering capacity with “shift-left” Test Automation
In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, having an efficient software development lifecycle (SDLC) is paramount to success. The Agile SDLC, while celebrated for its flexibility, still has one persistent challenge: the lag between development and testing. Engineering leaders have always aspired to achieve “in-sprint” Test Automation to provide coverage for functionality developed a sprint. Generative AI presents the opportunity to address this challenge and make” in-sprint” test automation a reality, delivering substantial efficiency in software development.
The Traditional Agile Development Cycle
Typically, an agile development cycle includes design (mockups/tech design), development, test development and testing, bug fixes, and deployment. Ideally, development and testing should occur in parallel, allowing a team to test code in the same sprint it was developed. However, in practice, this synchronization rarely happens. Test development and even automation lags three to four sprints behind, leaving a gap in test coverage and code completion. This is largely due to the time needed to develop a test plan and create test cases. Even when “record & play” test automation is used, it needs a fully functional application to record test scenarios.
Inefficiencies in the Current Process
This lag in test automation introduces two main inefficiencies:
- Sprint Disruption: Developers’ time is taken up helping test engineers understand the logic and write appropriate scripts, interrupting their workflow and taking up valuable time.
- Workflow Dependency: Test engineers need fully functional application to script or record automated test cases.
- Bug Fixing: Once automated test scripts are run, they often uncover bugs that require immediate attention, further consuming resources in the current sprint.
Engineering teams often have to allocate at least 20% of their bandwidth to writing test scripts and another 20-25% to addressing bugs. This significantly slows down the overall development cycle and can take up critical time before important releases.
The Shift-Left Solution
According to a recent Bain article, generative AI is set to significantly impact tech services by providing new opportunities for enhancing productivity and creating new business models for software development. One such model is the shifted-left SDLC, seen in Wave 2 of their roll out prediction.
Generative AI offers a transformative solution to these challenges. Gen AI enables this shift, bringing test cases to the forefront of development, providing clearer insights into the functionality to be built and highlights potential corner cases early in the process. The benefits include:
- Enhanced Mockups and Test Automation: Engineers will have a clear reference for what to build, a test plan for the functionality they are going to build, and automated tests ready to validate their work as it progresses. This ensures that less bugs are introduced from the get-go, eliminates the gap between development and testing, and allows you to ship a more stable product.
- Reduced Context Switching: Developers will not have to reserve separate bandwidth for bug fixing or test creation, freeing up the 25-30% of their capacity that’s tied up in separate bug fix cycles.
- Improved Communication and Cross-Team Dynamics: With clear communication and alignment on what’s being developed and tested from the start, teams not only experience fewer communication breakdowns, but also have a more thorough understanding of what’s being developed and tested from the start.
Saralam’s Approach
Generative AI is a powerful tool that has already enhanced individual developer productivity. At Saralam, we’re utilizing it to revolutionize your team’s approach to software testing, while creating a more efficient, productive, and collaborative development environment. As businesses continue to leverage and integrate advancing technologies, the future of software development looks more promising than ever. Want to be ahead of the curve, schedule a free demo today or just drop a mockup to us to get a full test plan for free.
