When building that DevOps-aligned process, work ethic, and mindset, it might be difficult for teams, individuals, and organisations to determine how QA figures into the larger scheme of CI/CD and associated operations.
Start with exploring the role of QA in a DevOps setup, then study the steps that can be taken to ensure that this role is being executed as effectively as possible.
Remember that DevOps and QA feed into each other to achieve maximum efficiency and optimal product quality. Similarly, QA processes set up in line with DevOps philosophies get the most out of tests.
How to fit QA into DevOps
- Ask the Experts
Fundamentally, QA is about testing — deciding what tests to run, writing test cases, testing manually, or creating automation test scripts, verifying test results. Therefore, the easiest thing to do is to include experienced testers in the DevOps team.
- Give the Team the right tools
A team needs to have the right tools and frameworks at hand. DevOps require high levels of automation because it ports the development process to a CI/CD pipeline.
For the CI/CD stage called Continuous Testing, QAs need a testing tool with a real device cloud that provides integrations with popular CI/CD tools. Ideally, look for a cloud Selenium grid of real browsers and devices for DevOps testing purposes.
- Include QAs from Stage One
In traditional software development processes, the QA comes at the end of coding.
In DevOps, QAs come in from the first brainstorming session. When developers throw around ideas on how to build a website or app, QAs must be present. This helps them understand the fundamental concepts, allowing them to design better tests for the Continuous Testing stage. QAs need to know how the code is being shaped and what is expected of the final product to create relevant test cases.
- Implement a Cultural Change
Most DevOps related articles on the internet mention this: DevOps requires a team-wide and organisation-wide shift in mindset. Developers and QAs cannot go through their day, trying to throw code to the other side and washing their hands off it. They have to see the process as a collaborative one, in which QA and development become complementary functions — pieces in a lean, mean, optimal-software-generation machine.
DevOps, for QA testers, provides an opportunity to expand their role, utility, and their place in the development scheme. This can only be facilitated by a team-wide and organisation-wide realignment in terms of methods, infrastructure, and most importantly, attitudes and mentality.
