Shift Left Performance Testing | Approach & Benefits
Today agile testing teams build and execute test cases in the early stages of the software development life cycle that is often referred to as shifting left. Every sprinter’s critical decisions made are moving forward at a lightning speed.
Faceted quick feedback process testing team should validate their applications end to end in a very short time frame. For maximizing with a path testing team can modernize their approach to testing for getting the best return on investment possible in the earliest stages possible.
Focusing on the API layer of application would enable our killable testing practice that could be efficiently executed as a part of an accelerated delivery process and it is a practice that could be adopted and enabled at the earliest possible stages of development, namely truly shifting that functional testing.
But what about shifting performance testing? Is shift left testing possible in performance and automation testing? How do enable the shift-left approach in performance testing? Here we will be exploring what this means and how you can enable it in your organization.
What is Shift-Left Performance Testing?
By shifting performance testing to the left, developers and testers will be able to undertake performance testing early in the development cycle. Performance testing has traditionally been a process completed after development cycles because it necessitates a set of specialized tools and expertise.
Such as expensive hardware in dedicated settings by qualified performance testing engineers. Instead, a shift-left performance testing method lets testers do smaller, ad hoc performance tests against specific components as they are built.
Integrating Performance Testing into the CI/CD Pipeline
When functionality is built, teams must begin developing performance tests alongside unit and functional tests and set those performance tests to run automatically and report in a way that alerts you to performance reductions.
Performance test execution must be firmly integrated as a part of the CI/CD process, in which performance tests, along with functional and unit tests, are performed in local environments after each code check-in.
This approach helps companies to understand the subtle influence of new components being introduced on the overall performance of their application, allowing performance-related faults to be discovered considerably earlier in the delivery lifecycle.
Shifting performance testing to the left involves greater developer involvement from a business culture standpoint. Rather than waiting until the full program is built, development teams can usually implement optimization changes within a day of finding performance decrease.
How does the Organization Make Shift-Left Performance Happen?
First and foremost, you'll need strong organizational support. To move performance testing left throughout the organization, it's critical to approach quality as a process rather than a response.
Because performance testing and the accompanying development time come at the cost of implementation, which may slow down the development cycle, product managers are essential actors in this process.
- PM teams must understand the purpose and benefits of the process, including reduced hotfixes and improved performance.
- Setting SLAs at the component level provides earlier feedback and helps developers grasp the impact of code changes on specific components.
- Stakeholders gain insights into hotspots through comprehensive performance testing.
- Shift testing focus away from UI testing towards automated tests like API and database tests for better maintainability, scalability, and robustness to change.
- Automated tests can be utilized immediately in performance testing, aiding in detecting core performance issues.
- Incorporate performance testing into the development process by running smoke tests immediately after code check-in and full performance tests nightly.
- Consider hardware requirements for automated performance tests, as they demand more resources than functional tests.
- Evaluate existing performance infrastructure to ensure compatibility with the shift-left approach, potentially necessitating changes such as transitioning to cloud agents.
Developer and Tester Roles in Shift-Left Performance Testing
Developers are in charge of their apps' performance. Developers must use microservices, REST/SOAP APIs, and modular design architectures to construct applications that are suitable for performance testing. This allows individual parts to be load tested as they are created.
Testers may link their test cases to the application's main workflows so they can be used in the performance testing process. Focusing on the application's API levels makes it more adaptable to change and maintainable. Both teams use reports that are outside of the application's SLAs to identify issue areas based on recent code check-ins and determine which components need to be optimized.
What Tools do You Need to Enable Shift-Left Performance?
It's vital to pick the proper tools for a shift-left performance testing procedure but it's even more important to use them in automated processes. Early-stage performance testing is typically done in pockets, with clever testers and developers devising ways to utilize a range of free source and commercially accessible technologies.
But it's often missed since it's not incorporated into the overall automated process. Instead, testers should use specialized commercial tools that allow them to automate the creation of performance tests. Similar technologies may be used by developers to optimize their efforts or to write low-level scripts that drive automation and load.
So, what are the tools you'll need? The following tools make maintenance easier, allow for centralized management, and give an intuitive user interface for understanding outcomes.
- A Functional Testing Tool
- A Performance Testing Tool
- A Service Virtualization Tool
- A Continuous Integration Tool
- A Centralized Dashboard for Aggregating Results
Conclusion
Constant hot patches and performance optimization upgrades have irritated customers. They are ravenous for more features and functions. Shifting performance testing is typically done towards the end of the cycle, and as a result, it inevitably affects delivery deadlines, and as a result, it is seen negatively.
Issues may be detected early by federating the performance testing process and enabling agile teams to take a "shift left," iterative approach to performance testing. This not only ensures that technological selections can be easily evaluated for shift-left approach in performance testing deterioration, but it also results in a more performant product overall by optimizing each specific area and laser concentrating on performance.