Modern DevOps Approach and Software Quality Issues
Published: 2022-10-10 12:33:18

Changing customer preferences has opened a new array of possibilities for the companies to come up with new and innovative software products. As the products are getting advanced, companies are investing heavily to improve the development process. DevOps is one of the major technological shift witnessed on the software development front recently.

The [DevOps](https://tenjinonline.com/test-automation-in-devops/) methodology is usually performed in smaller segments with each segment handled by a specific team such as technical architecture, software development, testing, and so on. To ensure a seamless workflow, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) is performed; with so many processes involved there is a higher probability of software quality issues. To resolves the quality issues in the complex DevOps workflow, the conventional testing process is not a feasible option. Testing should be either performed by test automation tools or advanced AI ML integrations.

## Significance of QA in DevOps

As the DevOps scenario involves continuous integration and continuous delivery process, the ownness of quality lies on both the development and the testing team. Testing is carried throughout the development cycle, simultaneous to the development process. As testing is carried out earlier in the development cycle, the scope of errors is reduced tremendously.

Any misalignment between the QA and DevOps will yield an inefficient result. As the process involves continuous integration and delivery, the errors could appear even at the code integration, which can lead to the wrong process resulting in drastic deviation from the expected outcome. This scenario can be avoided by incorporating QA earlier in the development cycle. QA is an inevitable part of the DevOps process; without it the final outcome cannot be achieved as expected.

## The Changing Role of Testers

As the emphasize on the software quality is on rise, the role of testers is also changing. They are no longer a mere resource who check the product functionality and performance, rather they analyze the user perspective while delivering the product. Tester play a critical link in ensuring the quality is top-notch before release and also speed up the development and deployment cycle. The tester’s role is evolving into a new position known as SET or Software Engineer in Test. SETs are the engineers who build solutions for testing/quality issues.

DevOps practices support efficient operational and deployment for better product and business outcomes. Hence, it becomes important to build a good QA strategy that can align with the DevOps approach. The concept of incorporating QA is to ensure continuous improvement in the delivery process. DevOps helps organizations to streamline the workflows and speed up the delivery process; thereby, helping sustain and succeed in the highly competitive market. 

## Conclusion

DevOps is the most preferred methodologies for the agility and robustness it offers. The trend may change in the future with the technological advancements. With the change in the software development methodologies, the QA tools will also witness a change. The future QA trends are predicted to be purely AI and ML based, which have already started making their appearance on a small scale.