In the dynamic world of software development, delivering error-free products to end-users is paramount. Perhaps nowhere is this more true than with payment systems, where any error that escapes detection prior to release of the system can result in huge costs, including to the vendor's reputation.
To ensure error-free release, the approach to software testing has evolved significantly. One of the most important strategies is "shifting left," which emphasizes testing early and often in the development cycle. In this short blog post, we will explore the value of shifting left in software testing and highlight the benefits it brings to the development process.
Shifting left refers to the practice of moving testing activities earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Traditionally, testing was often considered a late-stage activity, to be completed after development was completed but before release to users. Shifting left promotes the integration of testing right from the initial phases of development, enabling the detection and resolution of issues at an early stage.
By shifting left, software teams can identify defects and vulnerabilities at the earliest possible stage. Early detection reduces the cost and effort required to fix issues, as problems found earlier in the SDLC are generally easier and less expensive to address. This approach helps prevent defects from propagating further downstream, leading to higher-quality software.
Shifting left also fosters collaboration between developers, testers, and other stakeholders right from the beginning. By involving testers early on, they gain a better understanding of the system, its requirements, and potential risks. Testers can provide valuable feedback to developers, who can then make necessary adjustments promptly. This collaborative approach ensures a smoother development process and reduces rework later on.
Another key benefit of this strategy is that testing early and often allows for more comprehensive test coverage. Test coverage means the amount of a systems functionality and code is covered by the tests being run. By starting testing activities early, the test suite can be designed to cover critical functionalities and edge cases from the beginning. This helps identify issues that might otherwise remain unnoticed until later stages, reducing the risk of critical bugs reaching production.
From a commercial and marketing perspective, shifting left accelerates the software development process by catching issues early and reducing rework. Timely detection and resolution of defects mean fewer delays during the testing and quality assurance phases. Consequently, the product can reach the market faster, giving organizations a competitive edge and increasing customer satisfaction.
Other key strategies are close cousins to the "shift left" strategy. For example, shifting left aligns well with the principles of continuous integration (CI) and continuous testing (CT). CI ensures that changes are integrated frequently, while CT verifies those changes in an automated and continuous manner. By incorporating testing early in the CI/CT pipeline, organizations can achieve a seamless and efficient development process with a high degree of confidence in the software's stability.
Another closely-related concept is regression testing, which means retesting with identical tests sets and cases after every change to the software. Regression testing means re-running tests to ensure that previously developed and tested systems or components still perform as expected after a change.
As specialists in payment systems, all these principles are central to our culture, and are fully enabled in our payment testing solution. We know that shifting left in the approach to testing has emerged as a powerful methodology to ensure that software releases are error-free and that defects do not escape into the production environment. By enabling testing early and testing often of payment systems, we help our customers identify and address issues at their inception, which in turn accelerates their product release, reduces their costs, and reduces the chance that their reputations will suffer from an error encountered in production.
At Payapt, what we enable is not just testing of payment systems, it is ensuring our customers are able to test early, test often and test repeatedly to ensure the payment solutions they release are defect-free.