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What are Shift-Left and Shift-Right Testing?

Feb 3rd, 2023 | Deepak Bhanushali

It is natural for the testing strategy to follow suit in today's world when we need speed and flexibility to stay ahead of the competition. Many businesses deploy code almost every day. Therefore, it's crucial to identify and fix bugs as soon as possible. Testing is no longer simply the responsibility of the QA team. Testing should be the responsibility of everyone involved in the software delivery pipeline. And this is where shift-left and shift-right testing come into play. Let's take a closer look at the concept of shift-left and shift-right testing and how these methods might benefit you.



What is shift-left testing?

Shift-left testing is an approach used in software development to improve speed, quality, and efficiency. It involves moving the testing process to an earlier point on the timeline, which enables the QA team to identify and fix bugs more quickly and efficiently. This approach helps to ensure quality and increase efficiency by catching bugs before they reach production. Additionally, it allows teams to move faster by reducing the amount of time spent debugging code. The shift-left testing approach has been proven to lead to better quality products with fewer defects and faster delivery times.


Benefits of shift-left testing

  • It contributes to ensuring that quality is incorporated into the product from the beginning.
  • It makes it easier to detect bugs early in the development process.
  • In the long term, it saves time and money by avoiding rework.
  • It can improve communication between various teams engaged in the development process.
  • It encourages a culture of quality within the organization.
  • It enables faster feedback and iteration.

Risks of shift-left testing

  • It could be challenging to adopt if teams are not accustomed to collaborating.
  • Additional training for team members may be required.


What is shift-right testing?

Shift-right testing is an approach to software testing that focuses on the end-user experience. This type of testing focuses on changes in the system and how they affect the overall performance. It involves shifting the focus of testing from just the development phase to later stages of the software lifecycle, such as deployment and maintenance. Doing so ensures that any issues or bugs are identified early and then quickly fixed, resulting in a better user experience. Shift-right testing also helps reduce software development costs by detecting bugs before they become major issues.


Benefits of shift-right testing

  • Testing is done toward the end of the development process, allowing team members to focus on their areas of expertise.
  • Developers are under less pressure since they don't have to worry about potential defects.
  • The product can be tested carefully by testers at their own pace.
  • All team members can focus on their individual tasks without having to worry about quality assurance.
  • This method may be less expensive because it does not require as much initial commitment.

Risks of shift-right testing

    If you wait until the very end of the development cycle, you run the risk of releasing a product with significant bugs that could have been avoided if testing had been done earlier.
  • Waiting until the product is almost complete before beginning testing could result in missing out on valuable client input.
  • Shift-right testing can be expensive and you may need to engage more staff or outsource testing to a third-party organization. Because if bugs are not detected until late in the development process, it requires more extensive rework, testing, and documentation.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, both shift-left and shift-right testing methods have their advantages. The former can be used by agile teams to achieve cost-effective implementations and accelerate major fixes. Shift-right testing is as important, though, due to the ability to integrate system and user feedback based on actual scenarios. Therefore, it is not a question of choosing which is best for your business but rather combining the two strategies for the best results.


Fortunately, Team Initialyze makes implementing both strategies easy. Our automation test service streamlines the test creation process and makes it simple to shift-left. Our test cloud solution allows you to perform tests against your production system, making shift-right incredibly simple. Additionally, all our tests adapt flawlessly to UI and application upgrades. This allows your testers to concentrate on what really matters—delivering high-quality software throughout the software development lifecycle. Connect with our experts today to see how we can help improve your testing processes!