Explore the Impact of Shift-Left Testing

Strongly Agree: 9%

(n=620)

Disagree: 22%

Agree: 35%

Strongly Disagree: 12%

Undecided: 22%

Undecided: 15%

Strongly Agree: 16%

 (n=121)

Disagree: 18%

If you rely on developers to test new features immediately after coding, and it takes at least 8 hours per week to test new features, do you agree this is impacting those developers’ productivity?

Agree: 36%

Strongly Disagree: 15%

    █  5-8: 27%

 (n=273)

For organizations with 500-plus employees releasing features multiple times per month, how many hours per week does your team spend testing immediately after coding?

    █  <  2: 6%

    █  > 8+: 44%

    █  2-5: 23%

 (n=946)

    █  Yes: 86%

For organizations releasing multiple times per month, does your organization test features immediately as they are being developed?

    █  No: 14%

    █. 5-8: 27%

    █. <  2: 6%

    █. 2-5: 23%

    █  > 8+: 44%

57%

How shift-left is impacting teams While shift-left improves quality, it can have a significant impact on developers and QA teams, who now have to test more often. Our survey found that nearly half of large organizations releasing frequently now spend at least a full workday on testing new features every single week.

40%

20%

Save the costs of later-stage bug fixes

Developer buy-in

50%

45%

Shift-Left Has Already Happened

Reduce the need for hot-fixes

0%

Reduce the amount of bugs released to end users

10%

© 2021 Applause App Quality, Inc.

(n=317)

Shift-left is already happening Shifting testing to the left is well-established at this point. Our data found that 86% of organizations that release frequently are already testing immediately after the code is complete.

Slow test results

18%

31%

60%

In April 2021, Applause surveyed more than 1,800 QA, product, engineering and DevOps professionals across the globe on the state of shift-left testing. We found that many organizations are already testing features immediately after coding – but it’s taking development and QA teams at fast-moving organizations away from their day jobs. Here’s what we learned.

How It’s Impacting Your Teams

How shift-left is helping Large companies shifting left report multiple benefits in their SDLC. The top three benefits, according to our survey, were reducing the number of bugs released to end users, saving costs on late-stage bug fixes and reducing the amount of hot-fixes. ––– For large companies releasing frequently who have shifted left, how has shifting left helped your dev/QA/product efforts?

(n=389)

Developers are too busy with coding

48%

Learn more at: applause.com/in-sprint-testing

37%

Shift left without burdening your teams Developers and internal QA teams aren’t your only options for testing new features. Applause’s In-Sprint Testing brings a repeatable process to shifting left that augments your internal teams and ensures you receive test results on new features immediately after coding, without diverting your internal teams from other priorities.

Shift-left can impact new code development Developers in particular want to build new code, and this is why organizations value them so highly. But forcing them to test new features takes them away from code-building. Over 52% of teams that rely on devs for testing and spend 8+ hours a week on testing agree that testing new features is impacting their developers’ productivity.

30%

39%

Context switching causes delays Because developers are so busy, it can be difficult for them to re-acclimate themselves to feature requirements and code they (or someone else) wrote days or weeks earlier – with 44% admitting context switching is an issue.

Coding vs. testing In fact, we can see that among organizations who are not shifting left, the No. 1 barrier is that developers are too busy with coding. ––– What are the biggest barriers within your organization to shifting left? (Companies who have not yet shifted left)

Development and QA efforts are too siloed

Shift-left can impact new code development Developers in particular want to build new code, and this is why organizations value them so highly. But forcing them to test new features takes them away from code-building. Over 52% of teams that rely on devs for testing and spend 8+ hours a week on testing agree that testing new features is impacting their developers’ productivity.

How shift-left is helping Large companies shifting left report multiple benefits in their SDLC. The top three benefits, according to our survey, were reducing the number of bugs released to end users, saving costs on late-stage bug fixes and reducing the amount of hot-fixes. ––– For large companies releasing frequently who have shifted left, how has shifting left helped your dev/QA/product efforts?

Context switching causes delays Because developers are so busy, it can be difficult for them to re-acclimate themselves to feature requirements and code they (or someone else) wrote days or weeks earlier – with 44% admitting context switching is an issue.

Coding vs. testing In fact, we can see that among organizations who are not shifting left, the No. 1 barrier is that developers are too busy with coding. ––– What are the biggest barriers within your organization to shifting left? (Companies who have not yet shifted left)

How shift-left is impacting teams While shift-left improves quality, it can have a significant impact on developers and QA teams, who now have to test more often. Our survey found that nearly half of large organizations releasing frequently now spend at least a full workday on testing new features every single week.

Shift-left is already happening Shifting testing to the left is well-established at this point. Our data found that 86% of organizations that release frequently are already testing immediately after the code is complete.

Shift-left is already happening Shifting testing to the left is well-established at this point. Our data found that 86% of organizations that release frequently are already testing immediately after the code is complete.

Strongly Agree: 16%

    █  Agree: 36%

    █  Undecided: 15%

    █  Disagree: 18%

    █  Strongly Disagree: 15%

Shift-left can impact new code development Developers in particular want to build new code, and this is why organizations value them so highly. But forcing them to test new features takes them away from code-building. Over 52% of teams that rely on devs for testing and spend 8+ hours a week on testing agree that testing new features is impacting their developers’ productivity. If you rely on developers to test new features immediately after coding, and it takes at least 8 hours per week to test new features, do you agree this is impacting those developers’ productivity?

Shift left without burdening your teams Developers and internal QA teams aren’t your only options for testing new features. Applause’s In-Sprint Testing brings a repeatable process to shifting left that augments your internal teams and ensures you receive test results on new features immediately after coding, without diverting your internal teams from other priorities.

Context switching causes delays Because developers are so busy, it can be difficult for them to re-acclimate themselves to feature requirements and code they (or someone else) wrote days or weeks earlier – with 44% admitting context switching is an issue. It is cumbersome to reacclimate myself to code from days or weeks earlier.

Learn more about In-Sprint Testing

How It’s Impacting Your Teams

Coding vs. testing In fact, we can see that among organizations who are not shifting left, the No. 1 barrier is that developers are too busy with coding. What are the biggest barriers within your organization to shifting left? (Companies who have not yet shifted left)

How shift-left is helping Large companies shifting left report multiple benefits in their SDLC. The top three benefits, according to our survey, were reducing the number of bugs released to end users, saving costs on late-stage bug fixes and reducing the amount of hot-fixes. For large companies releasing frequently who have shifted left, how has shifting left helped your dev/QA/product efforts?

How shift-left is impacting teams While shift-left improves quality, it can have a significant impact on developers and QA teams, who now have to test more often. Our survey found that nearly half of large organizations releasing frequently now spend at least a full workday on testing new features every single week. For organizations with 500-plus employees releasing features multiple times per month, how many hours per week does your team spend testing immediately after coding?