Continuous Testing: The 8 Characteristics Every QA Process Needs

Doing QA well is challenging. Doing QA well while using outdated tools and processes is practically impossible. Today we’re introducing the Continuous Testing Manifesto, which outlines the key characteristics that a QA strategy must include to keep up with the pace of faster delivery cycles.

What is Continuous Testing?

Continuous testing is an approach to building a QA process that focuses on balancing speed, quality and scalability. Where traditional QA practices are designed to work well with slower, older development processes, continuous testing has been developed to optimize testing for Agile and CI/CD development methodologies.

8 Characteristics of a Continuous Testing Strategy

Curious about how your QA strategy measures up? Here are the 8 key characteristics that a robust, scalable continuous testing process should include:

1. Modular Testing

Start with small, manageable chunks– aim for a modular system.

2. Rightsize Your Approach

Good processes don’t test everything; they take a balanced approach.

3. Measure to Improve

If you don’t measure results, you won’t be able to show improvement.

4. Shift Left

The earlier you can start testing, the easier most issues are to fix.

5. Unit Test

Enable fast feedback, along with super-specific error reporting.

6. Version Control

Keep your tests close to your developer work ow and create a record of tests.

7. Continuous Integration

Create a safety valve for quality as early as possible.

8. Pluggable

Integrate QA with development tooling to keep pace with development process.

Ready to Learn More? Download the Continuous Testing Manifesto

The Continuous Testing Manifesto dives deeper into each of the key characteristics that define a good QA process. Download the guide now to learn more about continuous testing in practice, and for tips and advice on implementing it at your organization.